Midlife Upgrade? Sustainable refurbishing, recycling materials and reducing costs

Artex offers mid-term refurbishment of train seats. A new seat generates about 205kg of CO2e compared to a refurbished seat that generates about 31kg of CO2e. The savings multiply by the number of seats on each train, which is usually around 10,000 but sometimes up to 100,000. In addition to climate benefits, refurbishment is around half the price compared to buying new seats.

At Artex, refurbishing train seats implies that the supporting structures in steel, aluminium or plastic are re-used, providing significant energy savings. The seats are reupholstered to the latest standards with great freedom of choice regarding customisation. Artex’s engineering team – with mechanical, textile, chemistry, design and product development competence – works with prototype makers, textile artisans and production personnel.

Artex’s facilities are in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Latvia, with around 500 people employed, refurbishing +20 000 seats yearly.

Refurbishment is a sustainable choice compared to discarding old seats and buying new ones. Yet we have taken our offering even further by repurposing the waste material from the old seats, such as foam and fabrics, for other products, e.g. sound absorbers and room
dividers. Recirculating the material reduces the need for virgin materials and, therefore, the amount of Co2 emissions created in producing new materials.
Artex delivers

For train owners and operators:

• Sustainability and substantial cost savings compared to buying new seats
• Lower maintenance costs in most cases
• Design flexibility – the old seat will be comparable with a new
• Full testing and documentation according to laws and standards, e.g. EN 45 545

For passengers:

• Comfort – the seat will be perceived as a new seat
• Satisfaction with being part of the pro-environmental movement. 

Most projects involve stringent demands with respect to both environmental and safety standards. We are fully competent to deal with these aspects, and can act as collaborator here. The requirements that we master relate not only to textiles but also to associated areas such as foam, internal liners, wood and steel.

We are a large company (purchasing, for example, more than 200,000 metres of fabric each year) and this means that we achieve considerable economies of scale when purchasing. It is, therefore, often economically advantageous to leave the responsibility for all articles that are part of the finished product to us, rather than purchasing these yourself.