If you’ve ever felt worn down by the cycle of buying furniture before a move, throwing it out afterward, and buying again — you’re not alone. And if you’ve started questioning whether owning large furniture is really necessary at all, that’s a reasonable question worth sitting with.
Furniture rental and subscription services have been growing as an alternative, often framed around ideas like “use only what you need” or “the freedom of not owning.” They’re sometimes described as the more sustainable choice. But whether renting furniture is actually better for the environment depends heavily on what happens after you return it — and how often it gets shipped around.
This article doesn’t rank services or declare a winner. It’s meant to help you understand what to look for, so you can decide what matters to you.
Before We Get Into the Services: What We Actually Looked At
Furniture occupies a unique position in sustainability conversations. It’s a long-lasting product, so when it’s rented, the environmental case rests almost entirely on whether a genuine return→repair→reuse cycle is in place. Transportation also factors in differently than with regular purchases, since every rental involves at least two deliveries.
With that in mind, here are the criteria we used when reviewing each service’s publicly available information.
Reuse, repair, and refurbishment processes The core question for any rental service is: what happens to the furniture after it’s returned? We looked at whether each service has a documented process for cleaning, repairing, and returning items to circulation — and whether that information is available to the public. When these processes aren’t disclosed, it’s difficult to assess the actual environmental benefit. This criterion aligns with guidance from Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (Irish EPA), which identifies repair and refurbishment processes as key evaluation criteria in its Green Public Procurement (GPP) guidance for furniture services (equivalent to Technical Specifications TS1 and TS4).
Durability and repairability by design Rental furniture gets moved repeatedly. That puts extra stress on construction, which makes durability and design-for-repair especially relevant. We looked at whether items can be disassembled, whether parts can be replaced, and whether the design anticipates repair rather than disposal. The Irish EPA GPP guidance also addresses design requirements that enable repair and reuse (TS3 and TS4 equivalent).
Sustainable materials For wood-based furniture, we looked for certifications such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification), which indicate that the wood was sourced from forests managed to third-party environmental standards. That said, certification is one indicator, not a complete picture. A service without certification may still have its own sourcing standards, and certification alone doesn’t resolve every environmental concern.
Transportation and delivery impact Each rental transaction involves shipping — and if a customer rents for a short period, or swaps furniture every time they move, transportation emissions can accumulate quickly. We looked for whether services have disclosed specific measures to reduce delivery-related environmental impact, such as electric vehicles or recyclable packaging. The Irish EPA GPP guidance includes packaging and transport as evaluation areas (TS2 and TS5 equivalent).
Transparency of information “Sustainable” is a term any company can use freely. So we also paid attention to whether the claims made by each service are backed by specific, publicly available information — including how figures are calculated, what third-party verification exists, and how repair processes actually work.
What We Couldn’t Confirm
The following areas were not covered in the publicly available information for any of the services, so we haven’t assessed them here:
- Environmental management system certifications (such as ISO 14001)
- VOC (volatile organic compound) emission controls for materials
- End-of-life recycling or energy recovery details
- Labor conditions and social responsibility disclosures
For any of these areas, we’d recommend contacting the services directly or checking their latest official communications.
Six Furniture Rental Services: What the Public Information Shows
The following profiles are based entirely on information available on each service’s official website at the time of writing. This is not a ranking. Think of it as a starting point for deciding whether any of these fits your situation.
1. CLAS
What they describe publicly
CLAS presents a circular model on its website: returned furniture and appliances go through repair, cleaning, and quality checks before being re-rented. As of March 2024, the company states it has kept approximately 85,000 items out of landfill through reuse — though the proportion of total inventory this represents, and the exact definition of “reuse” as used here, aren’t fully detailed in publicly available materials.
CLAS also publishes figures of 38% reduction in waste and 36% reduction in CO₂ emissions (as of March 2024). These are the company’s own calculations. The comparison baseline, methodology, and whether the figures have been independently verified aren’t something we could confirm from public information alone. If these numbers are relevant to your decision, it’s worth looking into what they’re being compared against and how they were derived.
Their original “CIRCLE Series” furniture is described as designed for disassembly, with the intent of extending product life through part replacement. Packaging and delivery are described as environmentally considered, with specifics available on their site.
May suit you if:
- You want a service with a clearly stated circular model
- You’re renting both furniture and appliances together
- The design philosophy behind their original line resonates with you
May not suit you if:
- You need independently verified data before making decisions
- You want to verify materials sourcing or certifications like FSC
Official website
2. Kokuyo RENT ONE
What they describe publicly
RENT ONE is a furniture rental service from Kokuyo, a well-established Japanese office products manufacturer, focused specifically on office environments. The service describes a process in which returned furniture is cleaned and repaired at the company’s own facilities before re-rental.
Some products in their lineup — including the “Liite” chair — are designed so users can replace worn components like seat cushions and back covers themselves, extending the usable life of the product without replacing the whole piece.
May suit you if:
- You’re outfitting an office and want to incorporate sustainable options
- You value furniture designed with repair and part replacement in mind
May not suit you if:
- You’re looking for a personal or household rental service (this is primarily a B2B offering)
- You’re looking for a wide range of interior styles
Official website
3. Tokyo Lease Corporation
What they describe publicly
Tokyo Lease Corporation focuses on furniture rental for residential use, including short- and long-term arrangements. Their website describes a refurbishment process carried out by in-house craftspeople — returned wood furniture and mattresses are repaired, repainted, or re-upholstered before going back into inventory. Detailed figures on what proportion of returned items go through this process aren’t publicly available.
On the delivery side, the company states that in 2023 it introduced an electric truck (an “eCanter”) for urban deliveries, powered in part by solar panels installed on their warehouse roof. The share of total deliveries covered by this arrangement isn’t specified in available public materials.
May suit you if:
- You’re looking for residential furniture rental, short or long term
- Concrete action on delivery emissions matters to you
- You value hands-on repair and refurbishment processes
May not suit you if:
- Materials certifications (FSC, etc.) are a priority for you
- You prefer a flat monthly subscription model
Official website
4. COSMO SubscRental
What they describe publicly
COSMO SubscRental is a subscription-based rental service for furniture and appliances. The site notes that customers don’t need to deal with disposal costs or logistics when they’re done — the company handles pickup. When items are damaged or malfunction, the service offers a replacement.
However, what happens to returned or replaced items after collection — whether they’re re-rented, recycled, or discarded — isn’t addressed in the available public information. Whether this constitutes a meaningful reduction in waste depends on that answer, which currently isn’t visible from the outside.
May suit you if:
- Reducing the hassle of disposing of unwanted furniture is your main concern
- You move frequently or expect your furniture needs to change
May not suit you if:
- Materials sourcing or delivery practices are priorities for you
- You want to understand what happens to items after they’re returned
Official website
Cosmo SubscRental
5. Kashite! Dotcom
What they describe publicly
Kashite! Dotcom is a furniture and appliance rental service that makes an explicit statement on its website about the origin of its used inventory: all secondhand items in the catalog started as new rentals within their own service, cleaned and maintained after return. They explicitly state that none of their secondhand stock comes from second-hand shops or external sources.
This means the product history — where an item came from and how it was handled — is traceable within the service. That kind of transparency about provenance can be a meaningful factor when deciding whether to trust the condition and handling of a used item.
Detailed information about the repair process, materials certifications, and delivery practices is limited in their publicly available materials.
May suit you if:
- Knowing the origin and history of used items matters to you
- You’re comfortable with cleaned and maintained secondhand rentals
May not suit you if:
- Materials certifications or detailed repair processes are important to you
- Delivery environmental practices are a deciding factor
Official website
Kashite! Dotcom
6. RaCLEaaS
What they describe publicly
RaCLEaaS is a subscription rental service for furniture and appliances. Their model starts with new products for each initial rental. At the end of a contract, customers can choose from: switching to a new item, extending at a reduced rate, or purchasing the item.
The service’s FAQ states that at the end of use, the company will collect and handle disposal or recycling of appliances (under Japan’s home appliance recycling laws) and furniture at no charge to the customer.
The key question for environmental impact — whether returned items are reused in the next rental cycle or primarily go to disposal and recycling — isn’t clearly answered in the available public information. If returned items are not re-rented, the cycle of new production followed by disposal or recycling has limited environmental advantage over simply buying and disposing of furniture.
May suit you if:
- You want the service to handle all end-of-use logistics
- Starting with a new product is important to you
May not suit you if:
- Post-return reuse is a priority for you
- Materials sourcing or delivery practices matter to your decision
Official website
RaCLEaaS
A Few Things Worth Keeping in Mind When Comparing
“Sustainable” means different things to different services
Some emphasize reducing waste. Others focus on materials. Others address shipping emissions. Deciding in advance which of these dimensions matters most to you will make comparison more meaningful.
Be careful with environmental figures
Reduction percentages in company reports depend heavily on what year they’re being compared against and what scope of emissions is included. When a figure catches your eye, it’s worth asking: compared to what? Calculated how? And has it been reviewed by an independent party?
What we still couldn’t find
Even after reviewing official sources, the following remained unclear for all services:
- Environmental management certifications (ISO 14001 or equivalent)
- VOC emission controls for materials
- End-of-life recycling and energy recovery processes
- Labor and social responsibility disclosures
Reaching out directly to any service you’re seriously considering is a reasonable next step for these questions.
You Don’t Have to Decide Today
Furniture rental can reduce waste and keep products in circulation — but only when the infrastructure for repeated reuse is actually in place. Short-term or frequent rentals can accumulate transportation emissions in ways that may outweigh the environmental benefit compared to buying once and keeping a piece for years.
Renting isn’t automatically better. What matters is which service has real reuse systems behind it, and how you personally plan to use the service — how long, how often, and with how many transitions.
Some options that are just as valid as signing up for a service today:
- Continuing to use the furniture you already own for a while longer
- Revisiting the question the next time a major life change is already prompting a move
- Trying one rental item to see how the model fits your life before committing further
Not deciding yet is a decision. Asking the question is already a step.
This article was written with reference to publicly available information on each service’s official website, as well as the Irish Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) guidance and related published standards. All information reflects what was available at the time of writing. Please verify current details directly with each service. This article does not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of any specific service.
