Developing a Sustainable and Circular Business Model for the Blinds and Shutter Industry in the UK

Blinds and shutters have been used around the world for hundreds of years. They offer building occupants privacy and security and contribute to health and wellbeing; they can also reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling which is environmentally and economically beneficial. Current design and manufacturing processes mean that disassembly is relatively easy, which facilitates reuse, repair and ultimately recycling. At present these practices are limited and most blinds are either sent to landfill or incinerated at end-of-life. In this chapter we propose that design is key to extending current good practice in and accelerate the development of a Circular Economy for this sector.