Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
In a world where consumer choices impact the environment, ReBorn® emerges as a beacon of change, offering a sustainable solution to the homeware industry’s pressing environmental challenges.
Every dish drainer picked up from the supermarket or coat hanger that you intended to be matching but, inevitably, isn’t. Do you know how or where these things are made? The answer is invariably that they are made from virgin plastic in China and then shipped to the UK. This means extensive use of fossil fuels in both manufacturing and transport, all at great cost to our planet. Moreover, these products are often “co-moulded” meaning that they’re made of mixed materials that can’t be recycled. So, most of this plastic will end up in landfill and will never decompose.
Pioneering the transformation of waste into exquisite homeware, ReBorn® significantly reduces the need for virgin materials and breathes life into discarded materials. Working in partnership with Biffa, who collect waste from around the UK, these waste materials – which mostly consist of wasted food packaging collected from Britain’s factories – are ‘reborn’ and transformed into stylish and practical homewares in ReBorn’s Wiltshire factory. Every element, from raw materials to packaging, supports local industries and eliminates the carbon footprint associated with international transportation.
ReBorn’s innovative use of waste materials slashes carbon emissions by 79% compared to the conventional methods used within the homeware industry1 – an industry which has expanded substantially in the last decade thanks in part to the ever-growing “fast homeware” trend.
The ReBorn® range, which is priced from £12.99, initially comprises a selection of kitchen sinkside and home storage products, has been snapped up by John Lewis, and will launch into stores nationwide and online at johnlewis.com this month (from 11 September 2023). It will also be available online at reborn.homes.
Michelle McGuire, John Lewis Buyer & Partner, said: “We are thrilled to be launching ReBorn exclusively at John Lewis. We’re always looking for new innovative and more sustainable products that align with our brand values.
“The range offers a new take on practical product, where customers can feel confident knowing that the products are made from more sustainable sources, at an affordable price. We can’t wait to expand our range and commitment to providing customers with more sustainable choices.”
ReBorn® products are not only reusable, repairable and recyclable at end of life, but all products have also been designed to be space efficient, useful and long-lasting, while their functionality and colours have been extensively researched amongst consumers to bring style and practicality into our homes.
Brian Walmsley, founder of ReBorn®, commented: “Almost 70 million homeware items are thrown away in the UK every year, many of which will end up in landfill, and we know that this is a major issue that retailers have been keen to address.
“Through ReBorn®, we wanted to tackle this problem and have created a brand that turns industrial waste into eye-catching homeware that elevates your kitchen’s aesthetic, delivering a more sustainable and circular approach that clearly resonates with consumers.”
The whole range has the seal of approval from Brunel University London’s chemical engineering department, where the recycled plastic is quality checked for home use, durability and crucially, recyclability. Brunel-based environmental scientists led by Dr Eleni lacovidou, will also track the product’s lifecycle to compare its carbon emissions with conventional virgin plastic, import-reliant homeware products.
“ReBorn promises to markedly reduce the number of virgin plastics the UK imports and, most importantly, contribute to efforts to promote a circular plastics economy,” said Dr George Fern, who leads Brunel’s Wolfson Centre for Sustainable Materials Development and Processing. “This more circular approach can sizably shrink the carbon footprint of the large UK homewares industry and in doing so, help the UK reach its net zero carbon goals.”
