ScanCom first started producing own plastic furniture almost 10 years ago.
Since our own plastic factory was inaugurated in Vietnam, in 2015, the material has become a core material in ScanCom's design offering, with multiple solutions to select from.
Plastic is - arguably - the perfect material option for outdoor furniture. The material is flexible, yet sturdy, maleable, hardwearing, long-lasting, weather-resistant, relatively light, and requires little-to-no maintenance, aside from the occasional clearning. Unsurprisingly, plastic is a mainstay in the industry, and is offered by a wide variety of producers; so what makes ScanCom's plastic material and plastic journey so special?
Virgin Beginnings
When we first started producing in plastic, we utilised only a high-quality grade of plastic adapted with our own unique formula. Thus, Duresin was born as ScanCom's first plastic material created for injection moulding. The material raw material is readily available in options with almost no colouration, making it easy to develop all kinds of colours, and with just the right flexibility that allowed for ScanCom to design pieces in accordance with a key decision in those early days - we create pieces 100% glass fibre free.
It has always been, and remains, a key focus for us that we want to ensure the highest degree of recyclability in our products, and not having glass fibre in our plastic designs is something we believe sets us apart.
Recycled Renaissance
In the early days of our plastic adventure, recycled plastic in high value and quality products was still in its infancy. This didn't stop us from pursuing an ambitious R&D programme with a target of creating a commercially viable, almost fully recycled plastic formula and chair design. This project resulted in the successful creation of two distinct material types: DuraOcean and DuraLand. Named for their raw material source (maritime and landfill recycled plastics, respectively), ScanCom was able to take a multi-pronged approach to the plastic pollution challenge, while divesifying the supply chain.
After the initial success in 2018-19, ScanCom added another plastic source to our portfolio through a partnership with Plastic Bank in 2021: Social Plastic. Using only material collected from Indonesia, we were now able to also add a social aspect to our efforts for more ethical material sourcing and use.
With the three recycled, and current, plastic options on offer, ScanCom has a wide variety of opportunities for our customers to choose the right material, story, and impact, that they believe in; something that has also earned ScanCom several awards and accolades.
A notable and important element to raise is that our designs can be created with as much as 93% recycled plastic content - the remaining 7% being colour, and/or UV and strenght stabilisers. For our popular Cannes/Nassau design, this means that each chair contain up to 3,2kgs of recycled plastic material!
Furniture of the Future
With four options for plastic - three recycled and one virgin - available, and a high-tech plastic factory living up to ScanCom's standards for Operational Excellence, plastic designs remain a key product type for us, and our Design Team always push for new, stunning ways to use the fantastic plastic to create furniture pieces suited for current and future outdoor needs.