Woman in foreground mending chair on table. Man in background with headphones on.
Melbourne 4
CYCLE 02 2023

Flatpack : Repacked

Flatpack : Repacked

Long Story, Short

An investigation into how residents of the City of Melbourne furnish their homes, the opportunities to minimise waste and the potential to rethink furniture lifecycles.

What We’re Exploring

‘Flatpack Repacked’ aims to provide solutions to hard rubbish waste by investigating the lifecycle of furniture in the City of Melbourne. By determining the mechanisms and motivations that shape the purchasing and disposing of furniture in urban settings, this research will advise short- and long-term interventions based on the 4Rs of a circular economy – reduce, reuse, recycle and remove. The project will include piloting an intervention to determine its potential function within the circular economy model.

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Project Team

Researcher
Man smiling with collared shirt on.
Luke Gebert

RMIT PlaceLab Research Assistant

Researcher
Woman smiling with curly hair.
Cherese Sonkkila

RMIT PlaceLab Research Assistant

Researcher
Woman with long hair smiling.
Paloma Bugedo

RMIT PlaceLab Research Assistant

Project and Local Contributors
Eloise Leopold

Flatpack: Repacked Summary

The Flatpack: Repacked Summary Report is here!

We examined the behaviours and motivations of City of Melbourne residents regarding the acquisition, maintenance, and disposal of furniture.

We explored these behaviours and motivations through a circular economy lens to identify current strengths in the circulation of furniture items and materials in the City of Melbourne, and to identify potential areas of improvement.

Our early reflections point to a range of opportunities across the three project aligned intervention areas of the circular economy; Refuse, Reuse and Repair.

This Flatpack: Repacked Research Project strengthened our understanding of the decision making process of City of Melbourne residents when purchasing and discarding furniture items, and contributes to potential solutions for reducing ‘fast furniture’ in areas of high density living.

Together, we’re tackling real-world, urban challenges and seeking innovations that improve liveability, community resilience and connection.

This summary will be shared with our local government and industry partners. Please feel free to send this link on to anyone or any organisation that might be intrigued!

Explore more in our full summary available to download from the ‘Download Report’ button above.

 

Flatpack: Repacked ‘Trash as Treasure’ Zine

‘Trash as Treasure’ Zine

This Zine is a creative output summarising our ‘Flatpack: Repacked’ Research Project and the research activities we explored including; Research Survey findings, Field Study insights and excerpts from our Interview series with people from our City North community.

 

Poster within the ‘Trash as Treasure’ Zine.

The Team behind the Book

The design of this book was created by Madelaine Thomas, a graphic designer. We appreciate the creativity and detail Madelaine has applied in bringing this research to life.

 

Our RMIT PlaceLab team and project contributors involved in the creation of this Zine include Luke Gebert, Paloma Bugedo, Cherese Sonkkila, Frances Gordon, Kiri Delly and Brock Hogan.

 

This book is Printed in Victoria by Bambra Press

Releasing the ‘Trash as Treasure’ Zine to our community.

Download a Copy of the ‘Trash as Treasure’ Zine

If you missed the chance to grab a printed copy of the book at our exhibition, don’t worry because we have made it accessible digitally.

> Download ‘Trash as Treasure’ Zine here.

Bastian out in Carlton assisting with locating discarded furniture. Photo: RMIT PlaceLab.

Bastian, our Honorary RMIT PlaceLab Research Assistant, has been actively assisting us in our quest to locate discarded furniture for our Flatpack: Repacked Research Project. We have found over 70 items of furniture left out on the street across our four field study days in Carlton.

Reviewing what we have gathered, our plan is to (just like Bastian who was given a meaningful second life when he was rescued), select a small number of these pieces to then consider the capacity of discarded furniture to gain a valuable second life when acquired by a new owner.

During his free moments, Bastian has also been sharing his imaginative ideas for his ideal street for RMIT PlaceLab Melbourne’s other Research Project – ‘Cardigan Commons’.

Stay tuned for further announcements on the upcoming ‘Flatpack: Repacked’ and ‘Cardigan Commons’ Exhibition taking place at PlaceLab Melbourne on Thursday 7th December.

Thank you Bastian! Photo: RMIT PlaceLab.

An objective of RMIT PlaceLab’s Flatpack : Repacked Research Project is to gain insights into the disposal practices of furniture by City of Melbourne residents. A significant avenue for furniture disposal is through the process of hard rubbish collection. RMIT PlaceLab Melbourne is conducting field studies to quantify the volume of furniture placed out as hard rubbish and to categorise the types of items being discarded.

We have chosen the PlaceLab Melbourne research studio’s home suburb of Carlton as our field study area. Carlton has been selected as the field study area due to its workable size; we can cover the entire suburb prior to the hard rubbish being collected, and its largely comprised of residential dwellings. We are undertaking four field studies on Carlton’s designated hard rubbish collection days, which occur every second Monday.

RMIT PlaceLab Melbourne researcher Luke Gebert conducting the Field Study along Carlton. Photo: RMIT PlaceLab.

At each hard rubbish site, we are collecting the following data:

  • Volume of the hard rubbish pile.
  • Photographs of the hard rubbish items.
  • Types of furniture items being disposed.
  • The materials used to make the furniture items.
  • The condition (degree of wear) of the furniture items.
  • Photographs of the hard rubbish items.

A hard rubbish pile awaiting collection. Photo: RMIT PlaceLab.

Additionally, we are collecting suitable items of furniture found in hard rubbish for inclusion in a later exhibition as part of the Research Project taking place in the RMIT PlaceLab Melbourne Research Studio in November.

Follow along for further information on the exhibition and our field study findings.

We’d love to hear how you acquire and dispose of furniture.

RMIT PlaceLab’s ‘Flatpack: Repacked’ Research Project is a study that’s examining how City of Melbourne residents furnish their homes, opportunities to minimise waste and the potential to rethink furniture lifecycles. We invite you to share your experiences of acquiring and disposing of furniture in Melbourne to inform short- and long-term interventions to reduce furniture waste.

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The survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete. The questions focus on different aspects of acquiring, maintaining and disposing of furniture. All responses are anonymous by default, your participation is voluntary, and you can opt out at any time.

As part of the survey you can opt in to receive information about participating in further Flatpack : Repacked research activities. If you opt in, your email address will be linked to your survey responses in order to help us to find the right people to participate.

At the end of the survey, you will have the chance to go in the draw for 1 of 10 $100 gift cards.

Click the link ‘Get Involved’ to enter!

‘Flatpack : Repacked’ is an investigation into how residents in the City of Melbourne furnish their homes, and the opportunities to minimise waste and potential to rethink furniture lifecycles.

This project aims to provide solutions to hard rubbish waste by investigating the lifecycle of furniture in the City of Melbourne.

By determining the mechanisms and motivations that shape the purchasing and disposing of furniture in urban settings, this research will advise short- and long-term interventions based on the 4Rs of a circular economy – reduce, reuse, recycle and remove.

The project will include piloting an intervention to determine its potential function within the circular economy model.

We’d love you to be part of it. Follow us here & stay tuned.

Reusing furniture offers an opportunity to prolong the life of materials used in the industry.

What Is: A ‘Circular Economy’?

Circular Economy refers to an economic model that relies on reducing, reusing, recycling, and recovering materials in production and consumption processes. Aiming to minimise or eliminate waste from an item’s lifecycle, the Circular Economy model replaces an ‘end-of-life’ linear model. It aims to result in environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable development.

  1. Conceptualising the Circular Economy

 

Majority of disposed furniture ends up in landfill.

With a little work, much of the furniture that is currently discarded can be reused or repurposed.

  1. Conceptualising the Circular Economy

RMIT PlaceLab acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the Eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University.

RMIT PlaceLab respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present, as the original and continuing Makers of Place.

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