Factsheet bio-based street furniture.
Date: 2018-05-25
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Subjects: biomaterials, environmental impact, greenhouse gas, innovation, product life, public procurement, reduction of gas emissions, town planning, urban construction

FACTSHEET BIO-BASED STREET FURNITURE 

Procurement of Innovative Products: Bio-based Products in Procurement 
15-05-2017 

Why bio-based street furniture? 
What is (bio-based) street furniture? 
Street furniture are objects placed or fixed in the street 
for public us. Examples of street furniture are dust bins, 
road  and  street  signs  and  benches.  Conventionally, 
street  furniture  is  made  of  metal,  wood  and  plastic 
components.  Bio-based  street  furniture  items  are  also 
commercially  available.  Bio-based  street  furniture  can 
be  made  of  various  bio-based  raw  materials  derived 
from  various  agricultural  products  and  waste  streams. 
Examples  of  such  bio-based  street  furniture  products 
are  benches  made  from  a  bio-plastic  based  on  grass 
and  wood  waste  and  road  and  street  signs made from 
bio-resins  and  wood  fibres.  This  factsheet  provides 
information  on  bio-based  street  furniture  and  how  to 
take this into account in procurement. 

Why  should  organisations  consider  bio-based 
street furniture in procurement? 
Organisations  could  consider bio-based  street  furniture 
in  procurement  if  they  would  benefit  from  one  or  more 
of  the  capabilities  attributed  to  the  bio-based  street 
furniture.  Bio-based  street  furniture  potentially  has 
different  capabilities.  Aspects  to  keep  in  mind  are 
environmental  impact  over  the  life  cycle  of  the  product 
through  Life  Cycle 
(this  could  be  determined 
Assessment  in  accordance  with  ISO  14040)  and  the 
sustainable sourcing of the input material (this could be 
assessed  in  accordance  with  the  sustainability  criteria 
for  biobased  products  from  EN  16751  in  combination 
with  CEN/TR  16957  -  Bio-based  products  -  Guidelines 
for Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) for the End-of-life phase).  
With this kept in mind, several potential benefits can be 
attributed to bio-based street furniture1.  
  Resource  efficiency:  For  the  production  of  bio-
based  street 
furniture,  use  can  be  made  of 
agricultural  by-products  and  waste  streams. 
Conventionally,  street  furniture  is  produced  using 
plastics,  steel  and/or  wood.  In  the  case  of  wood 
use, this is usually wood from forests dedicated to 
production  purposes.  This  switch  in  material  use 
could  improve  resource  efficiency  and  in  addition 
stimulate  the  market  for  secondary  raw  materials 
and the circular economy in general.  

  Reduced  Greenhouse  Gas  (GHG)  Emissions:  The 
greenhouse  gasses  emitted  during  the  production 
of bio-based plastics have the potential to be lower 

their  petrochemical  equivalent2.  Reduced 
than 
greenhouse gas emissions will in turn contribute to 
combating climate change.  
o  Avoidance  of  GHG  Emissions:  By  using  bio-
based  products  which  replace  petrochemical 
products, GHG emissions can also be avoided. 
Fossil feedstock need to remain in the ground 
to  achieve  the  limit  of  a  temperature  increase 
less  than  2°C3  as  is  included  in  the  COP  21 
agreement  and 
ratified  by  UN-countries 
including the EU. 

Reduced  GHG  emissions  -  PVC,  a  hard 
plastic,  is  one  of  the  materials  which  can  be 
used  for  the  production  of  street  furniture  such 
as  benches,  waste  bins  and  street  signs.  Bio-
based  PVC  is  made  from  ethylene.  Bio-based 
reduce  GHG 
ethylene  production 
emissions  compared 
its  petrochemical 
alternative  with  approximately  40%.  This 
comparison takes into account CO2 uptake from 
the  atmosphere,  polymer  production  and 
incineration  but  excludes  GHG  avoidance. 
Future  PVC  production  could  amount  to  95% 
savings.  Source: 
‘Bio-based  economy  and 
climate change’, Nova Institute, 2017-01.  

could 
to 

 

Improved  Aesthetics:  Some  bio-based  products, 
such  as  benches  and  waste  bins  made  from 
(compressed)  waste  wood,  could  have  the  benefit 
of more natural aesthetics than products produced 
from  materials  such  as  petro  chemically  derived 
plastics  and  steel.  Though  this  is  subjective,  such 
more  natural  aesthetics  in  street  furniture  can  be 
perceived  as  an 
to 
conventional street furniture.   

improvement  compared 

could 

  Stimulating  Environmental  Awareness:  The  use  of 
bio-based  street  furniture,  especially  when  it  looks 
from  conventional  street 
distinctively  different 
furniture, 
environmental 
stimulate 
awareness.  This  potential  benefit  could  especially 
be reaped by providing information in vicinity of the 
street  furniture  about  the  materials  used  and  how 
this  has  improved  the  environmental  performance 
of 
the  product.  This  would  be  practical  with 
products such as benches and dust bins.  

1  These  benefits  can  differ  between  products  and  should  always  be 
confirmed by the supplier.  

2 Bio-based economy and climate change’, Nova Institute, 2017-01 
3  McGlade  C.  and  Ekins,  P.  (2015)  ‘The  geographical  distribution  of 
fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2 °C’, Nature 157.   

 
 
                                                           
                                                           
How to take into account specific capabilities of street furniture in procurement? 

the 

Procedures and purchasing strategies  
infrastructure  construction 
Procurement  within 
materials  sector  often  implies  procurement  of  services 
or  works.  However,  street  furniture  is  expected  to  be 
procured  as  a  specific  product.  The  capabilities  of  bio-
in  procurement  could  be 
based  street 
described  in  terms  of  GHG  emissions  and  resource 
efficiency.  

furniture 

Examples of procurement criteria  

1.  GHG Emissions 
The  potential  capability  of  reducing  GHG  emissions 
would  be  an  important  benefit  and  could  therefore  be 
confirmed as part of the procurement criteria.  

Minimum Requirement: The carbon footprint of the raw 
material(s)  used  for  fabrication  of  the  street  furniture 
footprint  of  an 
should  be 
appropriate reference raw material. 

the  carbon 

than 

less 

Additional  information:  The  carbon  footprint  of  the  raw 
material(s) should be conducted in accordance with ISO 
14067  or  equivalent.  The  procurer  shall  specify  the 
reference  raw  material.  An  example  of  an  appropriate 
reference material could be PVC. 

Verification:  The  tenderer  shall  provide  information  on 
the raw materials used and the carbon footprint results, 

which  shall  be  reported  according  to  ISO  14067  or 
equivalent.  The  comparison  with  the  reference  raw 
material shall be included in the report.  

2.  Resource Efficiency 
If  the  street  furniture  is  made  of  organic  resources  the 
procurer  could  request  that  the  organic  content  of  the 
street furniture is derived from waste streams.  

Minimum  Requirement:  The  organic  matter  content 
used  in  the  street  furniture  specified  must  be  derived 
from the processing and/or reuse of waste. 

Additional  information:  Waste  has  been  defined  in 
Council  Directive  2006/12/EC  of  April  2006  on  waste 
and  its  Annex  I.  Sludge  waste  has  been  defined  by 
Commission  Decision  2001/118/EC  of  16  January 
2001. 

Verification:  Tenderers  must  provide 
the  detailed 
composition  of  the  product,  the  origin  of  the  organic 
matter  and  a  declaration of  compliance  with  the  above 
requirement.  Products  holding  a  relevant  label  fulfilling 
the  listed  criterion  will  be  deemed  to  comply.  Other 
appropriate means of proof, such as a technical dossier 
of  the  manufacturer  or  a  test  report  of  an  independent 
body, will also be accepted.  

What bio-based street furniture products are available? 

The following databases contain information on the availability of bio-based street furniture, such as benches and road 
signs: 

  The  ‘CoE  BBE’  database  (the  Netherlands)  provides  information  on  a  bio-based  bench.  Information  about  the 

producer, product characteristics and whether the product is certified is specified. 

  An online search resulted in an additional 3 bio-based street furniture product suppliers. Types of bio-based street 

furniture supplied are road signs, crash guards and outdoor benches and tables.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Points of attention 
The following potential barriers and bottle necks have been identified by procurers, policy makers and professionals that 
work  with  bio-based  products  in  procurement.  The  relevance  of  each  of  these  potential  barriers  is  discussed  for  the 
product group street furniture: 

  Costs: the cost of bio-based street furniture seems to still be higher than conventional street furniture. One example 
was found in which street name signs (order of 50 pieces) cost approximately  €600 each. The initial costs are high 
because a mould needs to be developed. The price could decrease if production takes place on a larger scale and if 
raw materials can be sourced locally.  

  Level  of  development:  products  from  four  producers  were  found  to  be  available.  The  level  of  development  is 

therefore considered new.  

  Availability: the bio-based street furniture producers identified through the database and online search are based in 

the Netherlands.  

  Quality of the products: it is recommended that this is discussed with the supplier and proof of quality is requested.  

 “The  information  and  views  set  out  in  this  report  are  those  of  the  author(s)  and  do  not  necessarily  reflect  the  official 
opinion of EASME or the Commission. EASME and the Commission do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included 
in this study. Neither EASME or the Commission nor any person acting on EASME's or the Commission’s behalf may be 
held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.” 

Catalogue number 

ISBN 

DOI 

ET-03-18-073-EN-N 

978-92-79-89411-4 

10.2873/9181 

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Disclaimer: The information and views set out in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of 
EASME  or  the  Commission.  EASME  and  the  Commission  do  not  guarantee  the  accuracy  of  the  data  included  in  this  study.  Neither 
EASME or the Commission nor any person acting on EASME’s or the Commission’s behalf may be held responsible for the use which 
may be made of the information contained therein.