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.

Status
Active
This is a living research document. Check in regularly for incremental updates.
Share?
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Fine print
Read More
Get Involved

Project Team

Placelab-er
Man smiling with collared shirt on.
Luke Gebert

RMIT PlaceLab Research Assistant

Placelab-er
Woman smiling with curly hair.
Cherese Sonkkila

RMIT PlaceLab Research Assistant

Placelab-er
Woman with long hair smiling.
Paloma Bugedo

RMIT PlaceLab Research Assistant

Project and Local Contributors
Eloise Leopold

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.

_

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.

Brunswick 3
CYCLE 02 2023

Wear & Care

Next Project