Everyone else sells a product. We run the loop that makes the product possible.
Thirteen steps, from somebody else's disposal problem through to a tenth of our profit going back to the regions that supplied the material. Every step has a page on this platform that carries the detail, and every step says whether it is published, specified or still waiting on the first build. The closest rival in the category covers 4 of the thirteen.
13
Steps in the loop
Verified8
Steps already published in full
Published4
Steps the strongest rival covers
From their own pagesWaste comes in at step one. Profit goes back out at step thirteen.
Read it in order. The reason the economics work is that steps one and two make the feedstock cheaper as the network grows, and the reason the product defends itself is that steps eight to twelve cannot be bolted onto a bench that was designed as furniture.
Step 1
PublishedWaste comes in
Post-season Christmas trees, hemp and fibre residue, and roof-removed solar modules that UK rules will not let anyone re-certify. Each of these is currently a disposal cost to somebody else.
Circular materialsStep 2
PublishedSuppliers are paid by saving, not by invoice
Growers and councils avoid a gate fee, haulage and compliance cost on material they pay to move today. The money flows towards them, which is why the feedstock gets cheaper as the network grows.
Feedstock economicsStep 3
SpecifiedWe compound our own material
Recycled polymer with pine and hemp cellulose, and machined tree timber. Not a specification line bought at market: a process we run.
EngineeringStep 4
SpecifiedWhat cannot be compounded is pyrolysed, not burned
Dust, fines and short fibre never make a certified deck. In a grower-owned kiln they become biochar and process heat instead of smoke, and the heat dries the fibre we do want.
Biochar JVStep 5
PublishedBuilt in Manchester
One line, local jobs, apprenticeships and borough-level social value a buyer can score. An importer cannot fill that column in a tender.
Manchester lineStep 6
SpecifiedReclaimed modules generate at canopy scale
405 to 1,215 W under a canopy people already want, rather than a hundred watts laid into a seat.
Energy modelStep 7
PublishedCharging is given away
Free, as a published rule with a published load priority: when energy is short, charging sheds so the light and the radio survive.
Product familyStep 8
SpecifiedConnectivity is provided, on two separate lanes
One SIM carries nothing but the public hotspot. A second SIM carries the mesh control plane. A LoRa rnode carries it when both are dark.
EN/ABEL CommunicationsStep 9
SpecifiedThe street gets denser, not just the bench
Every additional bench adds mesh density where buildings block signal. The value compounds across the estate instead of sitting inside one unit.
Mesh densityStep 10
PublishedData comes back to the host
Generation, sessions, dwell, uptime and faults, in a named fleet view with an operator login and a public uptime page.
Canopei FleetStep 11
PublishedIt is repaired, not replaced
Any single plank or slat comes off with hand tools. Spares are priced in public, and the warranty is written per subsystem rather than as one number.
Warranty and lifecycleStep 12
PublishedWe take it back at end of life
Modules, battery and composite return by a named route, so the last owner is not left holding a disposal problem we created.
Take-back commitmentStep 13
PublishedProfit returns to the regions that fed it
A tenth of profit pledged back, funding local social commitments and the one-in-four donated bench for communities with neither power nor signal.
One in fourHow much of the loop each company in the category actually runs.
Coverage is credited only from what a company publishes itself. Where a rival does a step genuinely well, the note says so: this is a comparison, not a dismissal.
| Company | Steps covered | Which steps | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canopei | 13 of 13 | All thirteen | Every step has a page on this platform. Five of the thirteen are specified rather than field proven, and are labelled as such on their own pages. |
| Include, Steora | 4 of 13 | 6, 8, 10, 11 | Genuine fleet software and a certified refurbished bench line, which is more lifecycle work than anyone else in the field. Virgin metals in, no material processing, no give-back, no take-back of modules. |
| Kinley | 2 of 13 | 5, 6 | British manufacture and the best documented product in the UK. FSC tropical hardwood bought at market, no reclaimed content, no connectivity layer beyond an optional hotspot. |
| The Solar Range | 3 of 13 | 5, 6, 8 | A canopy, UK build and 4G. Virgin materials, no circular input, no mesh, charging framed as a site amenity. |
| SELS | 2 of 13 | 6, 8 | Widest catalogue in the category and a transactional storefront. No published energy figures, no material story, no lifecycle terms. |
| Environmental Street Furniture | 2 of 13 | 1, 5 | A recycled plastic furniture line and UK manufacture, which is real circular credit. Solar is a light amenity rather than an energy system. |
Swipe sideways for the full step list
13 of 12
Our coverage
Claimed and evidenced4 of 12
Strongest rival
From their own pages7
Steps no rival covers at all
VerifiedWhy this is the defensible part
A rival can copy a canopy in one product cycle. To copy the loop they would need a feedstock network that pays suppliers by removing a disposal cost, their own compounding, a UK line, a sovereign connectivity layer and a give-back programme, all at once. That is a company, not a feature, which is the whole argument. It is set out against their published positions on the competitor watch.