Challenging our processes to become halogen free.

During the Cradle to Cradle analysis of the Ara chair our scientist friends over at EPEA found some undesirable substances in the chemicals we use to produce our moulded foams. This potentially harmful element is present in all foam formulations as it provides the finished product with the
level of flame retardant required to pass British Standard testing.

The liquid fire retardant usually consists of a halogenated phosphate ester, which to you and
I means the presence of chemicals like chlorine, which can have a detrimental affect on the
environment during disposal.

So, we challenged our supplier Elastogran to come up with a friendlier solution. They rose to this challenge and developed a new polyurethane foam system, which is halogen free but still fulfils
the relevant testing regulations.

To allow this environmental improvement to be used across the industry we’ve opted out of the exclusivity opportunities offered to us. The great thing about this new process is that due to the pressure applied by Orangebox an environmental improvement has been achieved on a product used on a global scale.