Haworth's Innovative Closed-Loop Manufacturing Process

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, integrating sustainable practices isn’t optional—it’s essential for organizations aiming to grow and thrive. Embracing sustainability not only helps mitigate environmental impact but also enhances social responsibility, drives economic benefits, and fosters innovation.

As the world becomes increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability, organizations that lead the way in adopting sustainable strategies and ensuring compliance are setting themselves up for long-term success. These organizations are also making a significant positive impact on the planet.

Haworth has always strived to make the world better. This commitment is one of our core values and drives our leadership in innovative, sustainable design. While our industry has made significant strides toward “closing the loop,” Haworth has made a giant leap. We are the first in our industry to implement a closed-loop manufacturing process, launching it with the Fern ergonomic office chair in 2025. Now, we’re expanding further into our performance seating category to include Soji, as well.

Closed loop is a highly sustainable concept that we’re embracing. Our new manufacturing process goes beyond recycling post-industrial products, like ocean waste or wood fiber material. We make sure the raw material for the black plastic components in Fern and Soji performance seating is continuously recycled and reused—without degradation—in the manufacturing process, which eliminates waste.

This initiative is the result of a strong partnership with sustainability-focused vendors Royal Technologies and PADNOS, demonstrating the power of collaboration in driving meaningful change.

Here is how the process works:

• Old chairs are collected from customers, disassembled, and sent to PADNOS for recycling.

• PADNOS takes this post-consumer and scrap and recycles it to produce black plastic pellet material.

• PADNOS sends the material to Royal Technologies, where they use the black pellets to manufacture new parts.

• Royal Technologies sends manufacturing scrap from the production of the new parts back to PADNOS for recycling.

• Royal Technologies ships the new parts—made from recycled material—to our Haworth manufacturing facility.

• We use the new parts to assemble and manufacture brand-new chairs—then distribute them to customers.

• This closes the loop, and the process starts over again when the customer returns the chair at the end of its life.

A closed-loop material flow involves continuously recycling and reusing the raw materials of products within the same process, creating zero waste. This approach is a key principle of the circular economy, as it keeps materials at their highest value. By maintaining a closed-loop manufacturing process, we keep materials from being downcycled and ensure they maintain their design and functional integrity. This means we can use the same material to produce the same products, over and over—creating a chair from recycling a chair, for example, with the same original characteristics.

This is crucial because it ensures that the products used in creating workspaces are not only sustainable but also maintain their quality and utility over time. It means that specifying products like Fern and Soji from Haworth not only supports environmental goals but also guarantees that the furniture will perform well and look great throughout its life cycle. This commitment to sustainability and quality is essential for creating responsible workspaces.

Haworth's closed-loop manufacturing process allows us to continuously recycle dozens of Fern and Soji chair parts, drastically reducing waste and the need for raw materials. It will significantly cut carbon emissions, reduce the chairs' carbon footprints, and support Haworth’s circular economy and net-zero goals. So now, the world’s most comfortable performance chairs are even better for the planet.

As we continue our sustainability journey, this closed-loop manufacturing process serves as a best practice for our seating portfolio. Additionally, we intend to expand this same closed-loop thinking to additional products, processes, and material options in the future.

For designers seeking to specify truly sustainable furniture, Fern and Soji office chairs are an ideal choice. Manufactured in North America at a zero-waste-to-landfill, ISO 9001 and 14001-certified facility, it’s designed to endure. At the end of their life cycles, Fern and Soji can be easily disassembled, ensuring the responsible material recovery.

Haworth is committed to creating innovative solutions that contribute to a sustainable future by embracing circular economy principles. Our closed-loop process is a breakthrough milestone for sustainability in the furniture industry. 

We are proud to share this best practice, as Haworth—and the whole of the industry—take important steps toward circular, no-waste processes. We will continue to build partnerships and source materials with smaller carbon footprints, maximizing the value of our products and resources, while minimizing environmental impact.

In our annual report we highlight the great work we’ve done over the past year to make the world better. Learn about our Circular Economy, Operational Performance and People commitments, and discover the impact we’re making on our sustainability goals through the real stories behind them.