The smoking area in Helsinki Airport’s non-Schengen area features three new tables and six benches made from almost 650kg of textile waste – old Finavia staff uniforms.
It took 175kg of textile waste to make each table and 20kg for each bench. According to Finavia, the project repurposed the equivalent of 4,600 T-shirts. TouchPoint, which specializes in manufacturing ecological work clothes, is behind the new furniture, which has a factory warranty of 50 years.
“Usually clothes that are worn out end up being burned as energy waste. Our goal was to find a more environmentally friendly solution,” said Annaleena Kiikonen, sourcing manager at Finavia.
Finavia and TouchPoint have also launched a new line of work clothes that uses polyester created from used plastic bottles, part of an initiative to find solutions that stem from the circular economy.