Sustainability | FOCUS
Renzo kitchen by Daval in Charred
Japanese Wood and Mayfair Hunter Green
A kitchen ‘from cradle to grave’
The Used Kitchen Exchange’s Kitchen Passport scheme is designed to extend the lifespan of kitchens. CEO Looeeze Grossman explains
he Used Kitchen Company (TUKC) is the company that introduced the concept of kitchen recycling in 2005 and we are again dynamically spearheading environmental change within the kitchen sector, by introducing the ‘kitchen passport’ – an initiative that focuses on the eco necessity of extending a kitchen’s lifespan from cradle to grave TUKC has responded to the call for a focus on ‘product passports’ in
T
Defra’s Resources and Waste Strategy of December 2018 and in the subsequent consultations published in July 2019. We have already been a two-times ‘green hero’, thanks to saving 14,000 tonnes of kitchen materials from an unnecessary landfi ll grave over the past fourteen-and-a-half years. We now believe our Kitchen Passport can deliver even more signifi cant green benefi ts and are calling for the same reaction to kitchen waste as has been witnessed with regard to fast fashion.
HOW THE KITCHEN PASSPORT WORKS
Every kitchen buyer in the UK can now take advantage of TUKC’s initiative, if they truly believe that creating a greener economy is the best plan for the future of the planet.
A TUKC Kitchen Passport holds all the vital information on an individual kitchen, to make it easier to sell it on to another owner. This extends the kitchen’s lifespan and maximises the resources that went into its creation. Rather than scrapping a kitchen when refurbishing, it can prompt a kitchen owner to think again and consider their environmental impacts when generating signifi cant amounts of what can be totally unnecessary waste. All of the key information required can be neatly recorded in one place thanks to the TUKC Kitchen Passport. It enables anyone reviewing the passport to see when the kitchen was ‘born’, who manufactured it, which showroom sold it and when it was fi rst installed. It also provokes thought, by enabling the year and location of a second install to be noted, with this potentially helping to secure a third home for a kitchen before reaching its fi nal resting place. The type of materials used in its manufacture can also be documented,
is part of the circular economy is important to us and also offers new kitchen buyers a sensible, no-compromise, alternative. We now offer a fully biodegradable kitchen, so at the end of its life it will not become landfi ll. We have a large population on this beautiful planet and we can all help by thinking of our homes, especially the heart – the kitchen.” The London-based fi rm of architects and contractors Eckford Chong goes even further in its message and co-founder Doug Eckford cites from the Architect Registration Board code of conduct – “one tenet being that architects have a legally binding duty to ‘consider the wider impact of [their] work’.”
He adds: “This is something we take extremely seriously, not because we are legally obliged to do so, rather that its enshrinement in law simply underlines the broad sense of responsibility that making architecture brings.
“Environmental sustainability is a big part of this.”
May 2020 · High value
As well as sharing a passion for protecting the planet, these three also offer high-end kitchens and bathrooms, proving that it’s possible to have luxury that doesn’t cost the earth. Zero Kitchens are priced typically between £20k and £30k, while bathroom projects by Eckford Chong (like the one on page 45) cost from £3,000 per square metre, depending on fi xtures and fi nishes.
And there is a defi nite appetite for sustainable and ethical products, driven by increasing consumer awareness of the impact of their consumption. While we couldn’t fi nd statistics relating to the KBB market specifi cally (except for one study on appliances), one global study by Nielsen in 2018 found that 73% of consumers “would defi nitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment”. A 2018 study, this time by Global
Web Index, reported that “58% of people aged between 22 and 54
with fi elds to complete for carcass, door front and worktop material. Notes specifi c to the passport-holding kitchen can be added. All appliances and their serial numbers can be recorded, along with emergency numbers, for showroom, fi tter, plumber, electrician and appliance services. Dismantling advice is also provided, so all facts are at the owner’s fi ngertips. Kitchen Passports will be provided to every buyer purchasing a used or ex-display kitchen through
theusedkitchencompany.com so that they have as much information as possible about the future recyclability of their kitchen. The passport will be available to anyone wishing to support this major green initiative, with TUKC being about to launch a dedicated website to back its green inspiration –
mykitchenpassport.com. This website will allow the kitchen owner to hold their kitchen’s information digitally, making it as green a concept as possible.
Rather than
scrapping a kitchen when refurbishing, it can prompt a kitchen
owner to think again and consider their environmental impacts
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