The Wehlers Take-Back & Circular Program

Wehlers takes back full R.U.M. chair orders from B2B and project clients — free of charge. Take-back is built around whole orders, not individual returns: when a lease ends, a project is decommissioned, or a fleet of chairs is retired, we collect the full volume in one coordinated pickup. This minimizes the CO2 footprint of collection, keeps every chair in the loop — refurbished and reused, or dismantled and recycled into new R.U.M. chairs — and the client receives a discount toward their next order. The program is documented to support ESG, Scope 3, and BREEAM reporting requirements.

 

How Take-Back Works

  1. Registration at the point of order. Every R.U.M. chair supplied to a client is entered into an asset lifecycle registry from the moment it's specified, so a future return can be reconciled against the original order. Contact us or email info@wehlers.com to register an upcoming return.
  2. We collect the full order — free, and consolidated. Wehlers collects the complete order in one coordinated pickup rather than handling individual chairs piecemeal. There is no cost to the client for collection. Consolidating a full order (or several client returns on the same route) into a single trip is deliberate: it reduces the number of collection journeys per chair returned, lowering the CO2 footprint of the take-back process itself, not just the product.
  3. We assess and route every chair into the loop. Each returned chair is inspected:
    • If it's still in good condition, it's cleaned, refurbished, and given a second life — resold through our R.U.M. Second Life collection at a reduced price.
    • If it's reached the end of its functional life, we dismantle it using our design-for-disassembly process (see Technical Specifications & Quantified Impacts) and recover the raw materials — ocean plastic, e-waste, or pharma plastic — which go straight back into producing the next generation of R.U.M. chairs, with zero downcycling and zero landfill.
  4. The client receives a discount. Clients who return a full order receive a 15% credit toward their next Wehlers investment.

Built for Business, Not Single-Chair Returns

Take-back is a B2B program by design. It is structured around full orders, projects, and office fleets — architects, facility managers, and procurement teams working at that scale — rather than individual chair-by-chair collection from private consumers. This is what makes the CO2-minimizing, consolidated collection model possible: one coordinated pickup per order or project, instead of scattered single-item logistics.

Take-Back at Enterprise Scale

For larger, ongoing corporate relationships, the same system adds:

  • Asset tracking: a full lifecycle registry per order, from specification through return, so volumes reconcile precisely.
  • Guaranteed, scheduled collection: when a lease ends or an office scales down, Wehlers guarantees repatriation and buy-back of the full R.U.M. volume in a single coordinated collection, removing the furniture — and the waste liability — from the client's site.
  • Verified ESG & Scope 3 reporting: documentation suitable for corporate carbon accounting, delivered directly alongside the return.
  • Procurement-ready documentation: compliance paths for POGI, DGNB, and LEED commercial requirements, plus downloadable tender specification texts in multiple languages that reference the take-back program directly.

Where the Materials Go

Every R.U.M. chair — designed by C.F. Møller Design — is built for disassembly from day one, using PEF-certified recycled materials. Returned chairs are dismantled into pure post-consumer material streams with surgical precision, achieving 100% post-consumer material purity and 0% landfill or downcycling — ready to become new R.U.M. chairs without loss of material integrity. The model is inspired by the principles of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and underpins our B Corp certification: accountability for the full lifecycle of the product, not just the sale.

How Take-Back Supports BREEAM, LEED & ESG Documentation

Wehlers' take-back and design-for-disassembly system is built to provide supporting evidence for several BREEAM credit categories that project teams and assessors evaluate. It does not itself award credits — that depends on the specific project and a licensed BREEAM assessor's evaluation — but the documentation below is available to help build the case:

  • Wst 06 – Design for Disassembly and Adaptability: R.U.M. chairs are engineered for disassembly, aligning with the ISO 20887 principles this credit is based on.
  • Wst 01 – Construction Waste Management: the take-back program functions as a manufacturer take-back scheme that segregates and processes recyclable material streams.
  • Mat 05 – Designing for Durability and Resilience and Mat 06 – Material Efficiency: supported by the standardized, modular chair design and documented material degradation data.

For DGNB and LEED-aligned projects, see our DGNB Interior Guide and the Technical Specifications & Quantified Impacts page for the underlying data. Sustainability reporting teams can also reference the Corporate Sustainability Impact Report 2024.

Frequently asked questions

Does Wehlers take back individual chairs from private consumers?

No. Take-back is a B2B program built around full orders, projects, and office fleets — not single-chair returns from private consumers.

What happens to a returned order?

Each chair is inspected and routed one of two ways: refurbished and resold as part of our R.U.M. Second Life collection, or dismantled so its materials can be recycled into new R.U.M. chairs, with zero landfill or downcycling.

Is take-back free?

Yes. Wehlers covers the cost of collecting the full order — there's no charge to the client.

Why does Wehlers collect full orders in one trip instead of picking up chairs individually?

Consolidating a full order (or several client returns on the same route) into a single collection reduces the number of vehicle trips per chair returned, lowering the CO2 footprint of the collection process itself.

Does the client get anything for returning an order?

Yes. Clients who return a full order receive a 15% credit toward their next Wehlers order.

How does this work for large enterprise volumes or lease-end returns?

Large volumes are handled through the same program with asset tracking, guaranteed scheduled collection of the full volume, and verified Scope 3/ESG reporting.

Does Wehlers' take-back program support BREEAM certification?

It provides documentation relevant to BREEAM credit categories including Wst 06 (Design for Disassembly and Adaptability), Wst 01 (Construction Waste Management), and Mat 05/Mat 06 (Durability and Material Efficiency). Whether a specific project earns these credits depends on evaluation by the project's BREEAM assessor.