Q1 2026: Establishing the baseline

Furnitubes was founded nearly eight decades ago with a simple principle: take decommissioned steel tubes from WW2 ships and turn them into street furniture. Reusing, repairing, and designing for future recyclability has been in our DNA since before anyone was using the word “circular economy.”

That founding philosophy still guides every decision we make. When my team and I are choosing materials, we’re thinking about their environmental impact. When we’re refining a product design, we’re considering whether someone will be able to repair it in fifteen years.

Materials used
Our core ranges of products contain up to 80% recycled steel, sourced from the UK and Europe, where Electric Arc Furnaces are standard. In 2024, after two years of research and development, we launched two timber alternatives: reclaimed tropical hardwood and Endura™, a UK-sourced thermally modified ash. Both have a negative carbon footprint. Over 80% of our raw materials come from within a 100-mile radius of our South East UK base.

How we manufacture:
Our factory runs on 100% renewable electricity. We use every offcut: steel goes into smaller components or back to recycling; timber offcuts heat our workshop through a biomass system. Nothing goes to landfill. We’ve invested in energy-efficient equipment and robotic welding in collaboration with our sister company Contracts Engineering to reduce both energy use and material waste.

How we design
Products are built to last 20 years minimum, with some — like the Bell Bollard — designed for decades more. They’re modular, so you can replace an individual timber slat rather than the whole bench. In partnership with Custom Wytelyne, we’ve developed a triple-process powder coating method that delivers durability with less environmental impact than traditional galvanising.

The small company dilemma
Sustainability has always been how we prefer to run our business. It’s woven into our decision-making, our material choices, our manufacturing processes. But we’re grappling with how to communicate that as a small company competing against larger manufacturers with dedicated sustainability teams and marketing budgets.

Learn more