Sustainability & Circularity Transparency: PEF, LCA & Verified Impact Data
Wehlers publishes a verified, third-party-assessed carbon footprint for every R.U.M. chair — as low as 15.1 kg CO2e — alongside the full Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology behind it. This page brings together the material traceability, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data, the industry benchmark comparison, and the certifications that back it up, in one place.
Material Composition & Traceability
Every R.U.M. chair is built from two primary raw materials per configuration — a deliberate design choice that avoids mixed-material downcycling and keeps disassembly simple. Over 90% of the material mass in the R.U.M. chair comes from recycled sources:
- Pharma Blue — recycled polypropylene (PP) from discarded medical injection pens. One chair uses the equivalent of 142 discarded insulin pens.
- Fisherman's Green — recycled nylon from discarded fishing nets, sourced directly from Danish and Faroese maritime hubs and sorted by hand in Denmark. This is a fully traceable, local European waste stream, in contrast to the diffuse, beach-collected "ocean-bound" material some competitors market with highly variable supply chains.
- Keyboard Black — recycled polypropylene from post-consumer e-waste.
- Frames — 100% recycled steel, which significantly lowers the energy and emissions associated with virgin steel production.
The chair is engineered for disassembly from the design phase (see Technical Specifications & Quantified Impacts), which is also what makes full take-back and material recovery possible at end of life.
Verified Carbon Footprint per Model
Footprint figures are second-party verified by Quantified Impacts. Using recycled materials achieves up to an 85% CO2 reduction compared to equivalent products made from virgin materials.
| Model | Material | No Upholstery | Re-Wool Upholstery | Sport Upholstery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Fisherman's Green | 15.2 kg | 21.2 kg | 18.5 kg |
| Original | Keyboard Black | 15.2 kg | 21.2 kg | 18.5 kg |
| Original | Pharma Blue | 15.1 kg | 21.1 kg | 18.4 kg |
| Armrest | Fisherman's Green | 17.5 kg | 23.5 kg | 20.8 kg |
| Armrest | Keyboard Black | 17.5 kg | 23.4 kg | 20.7 kg |
| Armrest | Pharma Blue | 17.4 kg | 23.3 kg | 20.6 kg |
| Sledge | Fisherman's Green | 17.5 kg | 23.5 kg | 20.8 kg |
| Sledge | Keyboard Black | 17.5 kg | 23.5 kg | 20.8 kg |
| Sledge | Pharma Blue | 17.4 kg | 23.3 kg | 20.6 kg |
| Barstool | Fisherman's Green | 19.0 kg | 25.0 kg | 22.3 kg |
| Barstool | Keyboard Black | 19.0 kg | 25.0 kg | 22.3 kg |
| Barstool | Pharma Blue | 18.9 kg | 24.9 kg | 22.2 kg |
Full per-product footprint data: product catalogue PDF. Second-party PEF verification: public PEF report.
How R.U.M. Compares to Industry Benchmarks
Wehlers' Carbon Footprint Calculator lets project teams compare a specific R.U.M. model against named baseline chairs. Verified footprint figures:
| Chair | CO2e |
|---|---|
| Standard Corporate Office Chair | 93.0 kg |
| Upholstered Lounge Seating | 225.0 kg |
| Humanscale Ocean/Liberty Task Chair (avg. baseline) | 46.0 kg |
| Hay ACC Chair | 43.8 kg |
| Fritz Hansen 3107 Chair | 23.0 kg |
| Wehlers R.U.M. Sledge ReWool (upholstered) | 21.5 kg |
| Wehlers R.U.M. Armrest | 17.5 kg |
| Wehlers R.U.M. Sledge | 15.5 kg |
| Wehlers R.U.M. Original | 15.1 kg |
For a project-specific comparison at volume, use the Circular Impact & Carbon Calculator, which also generates a request for an official, third-party-verified Product Environmental Profile (PEP) and custom LCA breakdown for procurement portfolios.
PEF/LCA Methodology
Wehlers partnered with the specialist consultancy Quantified Impacts to calculate and validate the R.U.M. chair's Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). The assessment:
- Is a cradle-to-gate assessment, covering raw material extraction through to the finished product leaving the factory gate.
- Follows the EU PEF Category Rules (PEFCR) for the furniture sector.
- Assesses all 16 PEF-mandated impact categories, including climate change, resource use, water scarcity, and particulate matter.
- Uses a mix of high-fidelity primary data from Wehlers and its suppliers, and secondary data from recognized life-cycle-inventory databases.
Explore the full breakdown, including R.U.M. vs. industry-average comparisons by impact category, on the interactive PEF Report. The complete, third-party-verified report with all 16 impact categories can be requested directly.
Certifications & Verification
Wehlers is a certified B Corporation — Scandinavia's oldest — and the certification is written into the company's articles of incorporation, not just a policy. Unlike single-issue certifications, B Corp assesses environment, customers, and governance together, and requires full recertification every three years by independent, third-party review.
- Verify Wehlers' current B Corp score at bcorporation.net.
- The take-back and design-for-disassembly system documented here provides supporting evidence for several BREEAM credit categories (Wst 06, Wst 01, Mat 05/06) — see the Take-Back & Circular Program page for the full mapping.
- Product data also supports DGNB-aligned and LEED-aligned specification, and is included in Wehlers' multi-language tender specification texts.
Company-Level Impact
Beyond individual product data, Wehlers publishes company-wide circularity metrics — total waste transformed into new furniture, take-back coverage, and forward targets including a 20% year-on-year growth goal for recycled waste volume — in the Corporate Sustainability Impact Report 2024.