Concourse, the store designer and concession builder focused purely on duty free and travel retail, has formalised an alliance that will see the company introduce sustainable materials in the design and implementation of brand activations and store builds.
Last week, during Dutch Design Week 2019, Concourse officially partnered with Noble Environmental, the producer of ECOR (a sustainable alternative to traditional building materials such as wood, MDF, and foam), and DSM-Niaga (a company that redesigns products from scratch to make them fully recoverable).
Concourse Managing Director Chris Morriss said: “With DSM-Niaga and ECOR, we have found an innovative solution to take our sustainability aims forward with our brand clients. We are already in discussions and early project stages to initiate this positive change within travel retail.”
Recyclable, healthy alternatives
Niaga ECOR panels are made of cellulose, heat, pressure and water to create fully recyclable, healthy alternatives to MDF particleboard, fibreboard, and foam board furniture panels many of which end up as waste after use.
During the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes earlier this month, Concourse used Niaga ECOR panels in the design and build of its stand in the Innovation Lab area of the show in order to showcase the material to clients and industry executives.
“We have been working on what happens at the end of a display asset’s life-cycle,” added Morriss. “Through research and many discussions with our clients (both brands and retailers), as well as industry associations and sustainable manufacturers, we have identified alternative raw materials and how to incorporate these into asset design.”
At the TFWA show, Morriss also spoke at the Innovation in Action Workshop where he advocated initiatives such as Concourse’s own ReStore which repurposes merchandising displays and materials. He also said that as part of the company’s Triple R Strategy (Re-design, Re-dress, Re-use) it is committed to recycling or reusing 40% of all existing retail fixtures by 2022.
Such strategies are part of a trend towards what is called a circular economic model aimed at eliminating waste by extracting the maximum potential from existing resources through reuse. It is described as a sustainable alternative to wasteful traditional ‘make, use, dispose’ linear economies.