• Hogeschool van Amsterdam

• Ontwerpend,
• Innovatie

• Duurzaamheid,
• Circulair,
• Digitaal,
• Afval & Schoon

The second life of a stadium seat (Book)

Amsterdam Arena: a case study for reuse and recycling of discarded stadium seats

Confronted by growing sustainability-related global challenges, society is increasingly aiming for a circular economy. Wouldn’t it be ideal if we could contribute to an economic model with closed loops, where products and materials that are are at the end of their functional life can be reused in new products and systems? As the Netherlands aims to have a fully circular economy (i.e., zero net waste) by 2050, circularity is also a critical theme for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.

‘Circular Transition’ is one of the main profiling themes of the Technology research programme of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS). Its Chair of Circular Design & Business and its Digital Production Research Group collaborate with companies, lecturers and students on a range of applied research projects in order to advance the knowledge around circular design and business model strategies, making use of digital production to encourage the local reuse of discarded urban materials.

Amsterdam ArenA, home base of the Ajax football team and a major concert and events venue, replaced all stadium seats in the run-up to the European Football Championship in 2020 (UEFA Euro 2020), and aimed to do so in a socially responsible manner. With that purpose, Amsterdam ArenA engaged the expertise of the Technology research programme at the AUAS, in order to study the viability reusing the old seats in a circular manner. The research started from the assumption that these discarded seats not only form a large and relatively homogeneous waste stream, but also have an emotional value, which can potentially raise their economic value beyond that of the material alone.

For the AUAS this was an important case study, because the Amsterdam ArenA aspires to be a stage for sustainable innovations, reduce its environmental impact and stimulate the local economy. This project could serve as an example for other stadiums and public buildings with substantial waste streams on how to handle discarded products, and rethink how they can prevent waste in the future. With this mission, the AUAS lined up a team of experts on circular design, digital production, business modelling and impact studies to carry out a comprehensive multi-disciplinary study.

Editorial board: Liselotte van Dijk, Erno Langenberg, Marta Malé-Alemany, Inge Oskam, Yanti Slaats

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