The Furnitubes Sustainability Journal: Entry 1

Starting where we are: A transparency experiment

I’ve been serving at the helm of Furnitubes for a good few years now, and I’ve spent most of that time getting on with the work rather than talking about it. It’s time for that to change.

This sustainability journal exists now because transparency matters. Not the polished, press-release kind… the messy, honest kind that reflects how sustainability actually works for a small manufacturing business in 2026 and beyond. I want to document our journey openly: the progress we’ve made, the challenges we’re facing, and the decisions we’re weighing up as the landscape shifts around us.

Furnitubes _ Sustainability Journal _ Blog Visuals - intro 02

Q1 2026: Establishing our baseline

We’re starting this series by acknowledging where Furnitubes is right now. Not where we’d like to be, not where we think we should be, but where we actually are.

The truth is, we don’t have it all figured out. We’re a small company navigating increasingly complex sustainability requirements whilst trying to stay true to the principles that have guided us from the beginning. This journal is as much about learning in public as it is about sharing what we know.

Furnitubes was founded nearly eight decades ago with a simple principle: take decommissioned steel tubes from WW2 ships and turn them into street furniture. Reusing, repairing, and designing for future recyclability has been in our DNA since before anyone was using the word “circular economy.”

That founding philosophy still guides every decision we make. When my team and I are choosing materials, we’re thinking about their environmental impact. When we’re refining a product design, we’re considering whether someone will be able to repair it in fifteen years. When I’m reviewing our energy use, I’m asking whether we can do better.

With that in mind, here’s what we’re already doing.

Materials we use:

Our core ranges of products contain up to 80% recycled steel, sourced from the UK and Europe, where Electric Arc Furnaces are standard. In 2024, after two years of research and development, we launched two timber alternatives: reclaimed tropical hardwood and Endura™, a UK-sourced thermally modified ash. Both have a negative carbon footprint. Over 80% of our raw materials come from within a 100-mile radius of our South East UK base.

How we manufacture:

Our factory runs on 100% renewable electricity. We use every offcut: steel goes into smaller components or back to recycling; timber offcuts heat our workshop through a biomass system. Nothing goes to landfill. We’ve invested in energy-efficient equipment and robotic welding in collaboration with our sister company Contracts Engineering to reduce both energy use and material waste.

How we design:

Products are built to last 20 years minimum, with some — like the Bell Bollard — designed for decades more. They’re modular, so you can replace an individual timber slat rather than the whole bench. In partnership with Custom Wytelyne, we’ve developed a triple-process powder coating method that delivers durability with less environmental impact than traditional galvanising.

What happens after purchase:

We plant a tree through Ecologi for every product sold. We’re also piloting a return and refurbish service, so products can be brought back, restored, and redeployed.

This isn’t new. We’ve been doing most of this for years. What’s new is the pressure to prove it with data.

The data challenge

Here’s what’s changed: councils and contractors increasingly require detailed carbon footprint data before they’ll work with you. They need numbers: embodied carbon calculations, Environmental Product Declarations, verified emissions data across the supply chain.

Getting that data verified externally costs hundreds of thousands of pounds. For a small business, that’s a significant overhead. We’re currently working through pre-assessments to publish product-specific EPDs by 2027, but the process is resource-intensive and expensive.

Furnitubes _ Sustainability Journal _ Blog Visuals - the data challenge

In the meantime, we’re gathering primary data from suppliers, using material-specific EPDs where available, and applying industry-recognised proxy values from sources like the ICE database when they’re not. We can provide custom transport emissions data based on distance, vehicle type, and load weight. But assembling this information for every tender enquiry stretches our small team thin.

The irony isn’t lost on me: we’ve been making environmentally considered decisions for decades, but now we’re scrambling to translate that work into the language of carbon accounting.

Furnitubes _ Sustainability Journal _ Blog Visuals - how we manufacture 01

The small company dilemma

Sustainability has always been how we prefer to run our business. It’s woven into our decision-making, our material choices, our manufacturing processes. But we’re grappling with how to communicate that as a small company competing against larger manufacturers with dedicated sustainability teams and marketing budgets.

Do we shout about it? How do we strike a balance between being authentic and being visible? How do we tell our story without sounding like we’re claiming perfection we haven’t achieved?

These are the questions I’m sitting with as we begin this transparency project. I don’t have all the answers yet. But I’m committed to sharing what we’re learning as we go.

What’s next

Over the coming quarters, I’ll be documenting our progress: the data we’re gathering, the initiatives we’re testing, the investments we’re weighing up. Some will work brilliantly. Others might not. All of it will be honest.

This is our starting point. Thanks for being here as we plan what comes next.

— Catherine

Interested in following the Furnitubes sustainability journey?
Follow Catherine on LinkedIn for direct access to her updates and insights.

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The Furnitubes Sustainability Journal: Entry 1

Starting where we are: A transparency experiment

I’ve been serving at the helm of Furnitubes for a good few years now, and I’ve spent most of that time getting on with the work rather than talking about it. It’s time for that to change.

Q1 2026: Establishing our baseline

We’re starting this series by acknowledging where Furnitubes is right now. Not where we’d like to be, not where we think we should be, but where we actually are.

With that in mind, here’s what we’re already doing.

Materials we use:

How we manufacture:

How we design:

What happens after purchase:

This isn’t new. We’ve been doing most of this for years. What’s new is the pressure to prove it with data.

The data challenge

The small company dilemma

These are the questions I’m sitting with as we begin this transparency project. I don’t have all the answers yet. But I’m committed to sharing what we’re learning as we go.

What’s next

This is our starting point. Thanks for being here as we plan what comes next.

— Catherine

The Furnitubes Sustainability Journal: Entry 1

Starting where we are: A transparency experiment

I’ve been serving at the helm of Furnitubes for a good few years now, and I’ve spent most of that time getting on with the work rather than talking about it. It’s time for that to change.

Q1 2026: Establishing our baseline

We’re starting this series by acknowledging where Furnitubes is right now. Not where we’d like to be, not where we think we should be, but where we actually are.

With that in mind, here’s what we’re already doing.

Materials we use:

How we manufacture:

How we design:

What happens after purchase:

This isn’t new. We’ve been doing most of this for years. What’s new is the pressure to prove it with data.

The data challenge

The small company dilemma

These are the questions I’m sitting with as we begin this transparency project. I don’t have all the answers yet. But I’m committed to sharing what we’re learning as we go.

What’s next

This is our starting point. Thanks for being here as we plan what comes next.

— Catherine

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