how do I calculate the percentage of recyclable material of a piece of furniture

There is no fixed calculation method for furniture yet

At present, there is no established calculation formula for determining the recyclability percentage of a piece of furniture. The ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) provides the framework within which such a method is to be established, but the actual test, measurement and calculation method follows per product group via a delegated act, as provided for in Article 39 of the ESPR. For furniture, that specific method does not yet exist. What does exist is the principle: recyclability is one of the possible performance requirements that the Commission can attach to a product group on the basis of Articles 5 to 7 of the ESPR, and if that requirement comes, the calculation method comes with it.

For whom this applies, and for whom it does not yet

This question arises at the moment when a delegated act for furniture is in place that sets recyclability as a requirement and couples a calculation method to it. Until then, there is no obligation to calculate or publish a recyclability percentage, even if a manufacturer or importer is already working with a digital product passport for other data. It is therefore something different from the question of which materials are in a piece of furniture or how those are recorded per component — the latter is an information requirement that can exist independently of a percentage calculation, see also or material per component of a piece of furniture must be recorded. A recyclability percentage is an outcome of a calculation based on those material data, not the material data themselves. Anyone who now collects material information is building the foundation on which a future calculation will rest, but that is a different step from the calculation itself.

When this comes into force is not yet certain

No date is known on which a calculation method for the recyclability of furniture will come into force. The Commission's work plan for the ESPR covers the period 2025-2030, and a delegated act for furniture is provided for in it. As long as that act has not been established and published, no mandatory method applies and therefore no mandatory percentage either. Until then, a manufacturer or importer can make an estimate or claim about recyclability on their own initiative, but this then happens outside the framework of the ESPR and without the certainty that that calculation will later align with the method that the Commission ultimately establishes. As soon as the delegated act for furniture is published, the date and content of the method will be incorporated here.

What to do while the method is still lacking

The most practical approach is to start with the data that the calculation will later need, rather than waiting for the formula itself. A recyclability calculation normally relies on three types of data: which materials are in the product and in what quantity, how those materials are connected to each other, and whether they can be separated at the end of their life. That last point directly relates to what must be included in a disassembly instruction: a piece of furniture that is easy to disassemble into separable material streams is usually also easier to assess for recyclability than a piece of furniture in which materials are permanently bonded or laminated. Anyone who now records which material is in which component and how components are joined together does not have to reconstruct that information later retroactively.

A second point of attention is textiles and upholstery, because these often consist of blend fabrics that are assessed separately for separability; how that recording looks is described in recording data on textiles and upholstery. Hazardous substances also play a role: material that is technically separable but contains substances that limit the recycling route counts differently in most calculation methods than clean material, which is a reason to look now at which hazardous substances must be listed in the product passport of a piece of furniture. Anyone who has these three files in order — material per component, disassembly, hazardous substances — will be well positioned once the method for furniture is established, regardless of what that method looks like precisely.

The legal basis: Article 39, read together with Articles 5 to 7

Article 39 of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781) provides that the Commission shall establish test, measurement and calculation methods for each product group that are necessary to demonstrate whether a product complies with the requirements applicable to that group. Recyclability is not elaborated in the ESPR itself as a percentage or formula; it is one of the possible ecodesign requirements that the Commission may impose per product group on the basis of Articles 5 to 7 of the ESPR. These two provisions therefore belong together: first there must be a substantive requirement that and how recyclability is assessed, and only then follows the calculation method by which that is demonstrated. Once that requirement and method are in place for furniture, Article 10 of the ESPR will also become relevant, because that article governs what information must appear in the digital product passport — a calculated recyclability percentage could then become a passport data item, alongside the other data already described in what data will be included in the product passport for furniture.

Anyone wishing to follow this file can best monitor the publication of the delegated act for furniture and in the meantime get the underlying material, disassembly and substance data in order, so that a future calculation does not have to start from scratch.