Travelodge & BHF

Reconomy Connect, a Reconomy specialist brand, found a circular, reuse-led solution for 3,200 redundant sofa beds from Travelodge’s UK hotel upgrade, brokering a cross-sector partnership with the British Heart Foundation rather than sending usable furniture to landfill.

By collecting the sofa beds nationwide and redistributing them to BHF Furniture and Electrical stores, Reconomy Connect helped keep thousands of items in use, supported Travelodge’s CSR goals, and generated a valuable new revenue stream for charity.

• Problem: A major Travelodge interior upgrade left 3,200 sofa beds surplus to requirements. Many were still usable, but recycling was cost-prohibitive, and under normal circumstances they would all have gone to landfill.
• Solution: Reconomy Connect took a forward-thinking, cross-sector approach, brokering a partnership between Travelodge and the British Heart Foundation, and coordinating nationwide collection and direct shipment to BHF stores.
• Result: Around 65% of the 3,200 sofa beds were resold or reworked for resale, diverting significant waste from landfill and providing BHF with an additional revenue stream worth up to £160,000.

Surplus to requirements

When hotel chain Travelodge unveiled plans for a major upgrade of guest room interiors across many of its UK hotels, a total of 3,200 sofa beds were identified as requiring disposal. Though many were still in usable condition, they were deemed surplus to requirements given the overhaul of the Travelodge brand.

Reconomy Connect was appointed to oversee the disposal of the sofas as part of its contract with Travelodge, which involved managing all textiles and furniture waste generated during the upgrade. Recycling the sofas was initially considered but rejected as cost-prohibitive. Under normal circumstances, this decision would have resulted in them all being sent to landfill.

A cross-sector approach

Though many traditional waste management companies will dispose of a client’s redundant assets, no questions asked, Reconomy Connect sought a more forward-thinking solution. Eager to find an environmentally friendly outcome, Reconomy Connect set out to find a way to reuse the sofa beds.

In support of circular economy principles, the objective was to find an outlet that would allow the sofas to retain an inherent value within the wider marketplace, thereby extending their lifespan. To achieve this, a cross-sector approach was needed, forging mutually beneficial relationships between organisations from entirely unrelated sectors.

British Heart Foundation

Following initial discussions with the Furniture Reuse Network, a direct partnership was established between Reconomy Connect, Travelodge, and the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Having assessed the quality of several sample sofa beds, the charity was confident they could be sold in its Furniture and Electrical high street stores.

An agreement was made for Travelodge to donate all 3,200 sofas to the British Heart Foundation, subject to individual quality checks. To coordinate this, Reconomy Connect arranged for all the sofas to be collected from Travelodge hotels across the UK and shipped directly to nearby BHF Furniture and Electrical stores.

Upon arrival, each sofa bed was subjected to a thorough inspection. All those that met the required standard and retained their fire-resistant health and safety sticker were taken into stock. Those with minimal damage were also retained by BHF, so they could be reworked using materials from other damaged sofas to bring them up to the required resale standard. The remaining sofa beds that could not be resold or reworked were rejected and ultimately sent to landfill.

Achieving results

Though the partnership did not provide direct cost benefits to Travelodge, as the cost of supply to BHF was comparable to other methods of direct disposal, the environmental benefits were considerable. It also enabled Travelodge to meet its own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability objectives.

Of the 3,200 sofa beds supplied to BHF, approximately 65% were deemed suitable for resale following inspection or reworking. This successfully minimised the amount of waste Travelodge sent to landfill. The partnership also provided BHF with an invaluable additional revenue stream worth up to £160,000, contributing vital funds towards life-saving heart disease research.