Almere Dismantling Hall Rescues Leather From Discarded Sofas

Every sofa that arrives at the dismantling hall in Almere is taken apart by hand: wood, metal, foam, textile and leather each go to their own pile. In the hall’s first year, almost 150,000 kilos of sofas, armchairs and box springs passed through, and 2,241 kilos of leather were kept out of the incinerator.

The hall in the Dutch city of Almere is a collaboration between the municipality and LeatherLoop, a leather wholesaler that traded as CircuLeather until October 2026. LeatherLoop cleans and sorts the recovered hides and sells them to designers, makers and production houses. By its own calculation, the 2,241 kilos saved in Almere avoid around 10.9 tonnes of CO2 compared with new leather.

From Sofa to Sorted Hide

The route starts as bulky waste. Discarded seating is collected and taken to the hall, where frames are stripped and materials separated so that each can be reused as well as possible. The leather then goes to the social workshop of the Tomin Groep in Almere. There it is cleaned, and the seams and stitching are cut out. What remains are flat pieces of hide, each different in colour, thickness and size, that go into LeatherLoop’s wholesale stock and are sorted by colour category and format.

The chain is social as well as material. When the hall opened, five employees started for whom paid work is not a given, and the team has grown since. LeatherLoop also has a studio on loan in the city’s Upcycle Centre, where three start-ups work with materials that arrive at the municipal recycling yard.

A Large, Overlooked Stream

According to LeatherLoop, the Netherlands throws away around 90 million kilos of sofas, armchairs and other seating every year. Some 2 to 3 per cent of that is upholstered in leather: more than 2 million kilos a year. Most of it is burned, although the hides could often last for decades. The topic is gaining attention. Dutch broadcasters have recently covered furniture dismantling, and more municipalities want to keep usable material out of the incinerator.

Laptop Sleeves for Business Clients

The first products are on their way. MADE Out Of, the label of B Corp-certified social enterprise Eco Concept Group, is preparing a collection for business clients made with LeatherLoop leather. LeatherLoop puts the saving at about 4.5 kilos of CO2 per laptop sleeve compared with new leather. The company’s reclaimed leather, Circuleather, is also on MaterialDistrict, and recovered upholstery components also feed projects such as trainer foam reused as sofa cushioning.

LeatherLoop says it is ready for a next dismantling hall and offers to help other municipalities and waste processors set one up. Samples of the leather can be requested through its website.

Source & images: LeatherLoop / LeatherLoop – new name / LeatherLoop – MADE Out Of