The Take Care Program sets out a path to recyclability, which means Louis de Poortere can make a circular product possible.
When it developed the mono-material 100% polyester construction of its Ecorugs collection with the intent of achieving product circularity, Louis de Poortere had two significant challenges to meet. The first, to ensure it maintained the aesthetic qualities of its designs, and second, to make sure that Ecorugs could be recycled back into new rugs.
With the Belgian manufacturer’s experience in working with polyester, the first challenge was relatively easy to solve. The second proved more complex and has forced the company to create its own path to reuse and recycling through the launch of the Take Care Program.
‘We believe that circularity is a way we can reduce the impact of our products on the environment, but in order to do that properly, we need to make sure we’re in control of the product cycle. Just producing a recyclable rug is not enough: we want to take responsibility for the whole process. Take Care is our way of doing that and starting the journey to true product circularity,’ says Louis Dryon, Louis de Poortere coo.
The Take Care Program is based on two principles: a long life through the rug’s machine-washable construction and a returns process that is simple for the customer and ensures that Louis de Poortere is in control of reuse and recycling.
Once the original purchaser has finished with their Ecorug, they simply scan the QR code which comes on every rug’s label to arrange free collection and return. The rugs are then returned to Louis de Poortere for re-sale or recycling into a new Ecorug.
Keeping the returns process simple and free for the purchaser was an important part of the development of the Take Care Program. ‘We knew that in order for our journey to circularity to reach its conclusion, we needed to ensure that as many rugs as possible were returned, and that we shouldn’t expect the customer to pay to return the rug. Take Care needed to be simple and free, so we created a service which is exactly that,’ says Dryon.
