Green Solution: Used Office Furniture

Companies are buying or refurbishing used office furniture or office cubicles mainly for the cost savings. What they may not be consciously aware of is that they are also helping in the conservation of our environment. This practice is actually a good example of the three R\’s of waste minimization: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Companies can do their share in reducing the overall waste being deposited to landfills just by buying used office furniture or refurbishing their existing furniture. Just think: 40 workstations are already one tractor-trailer load of waste that can be saved from the landfill through recycling. Five to nine pounds of virgin material are also saved for every pound of natural resources used to repair or improve old office furniture.

Recycling or reusing furniture is practical, given that many office tables, chairs, sofas, bookshelves and desks taken to landfills are still structurally sound. They are not really damaged or broken, just outdated or slightly worn perhaps. A common reason why companies discard these pieces is that they no longer fit the color scheme or layout of a new or renovated office space.

There is a saying that goes, \”one man\’s trash is another man\’s treasure.\” Recycled office furniture generally refers to pieces that have been diverted out of the solid waste stream and back into the market with or without repairs. Specifically, it can refer to remanufactured, refurbished or reused office furniture and office cubicles.

Reused office furniture or office cubicles are resold and used as is. For instance, suppliers sometimes get pieces that are good enough to resell without making any repairs or improvements. Of the three kinds of recycled furniture, this type is the least expensive because there is little effort involved on the part of the supplier to make the items ready for selling.

Some pieces require little cosmetic changes or minor repairs before they become marketable. Repairing the broken arm of a chair, reupholstering panels of office cubicles or adding new laminate surfaces for tables or desks – these are some of the things done when furniture is refurbished. Companies can take recycling further by having their existing furniture refurbished instead of replacing them.

Remanufacturing involves structural changes, on top of cosmetic or surface changes. Furniture is disassembled completely, so that each part can be inspected, cleaned then repaired or replaced. They are then reassembled and refinished. In the case of old office cubicles, these are repainted, given new fabric for the panels and provided with new laminate, molding and edge banding.

Recycling is good, not just for buyers of used office furniture and office cubicles and the environment, but for suppliers as well. This results in a business that is not only environment-friendly but easily sustainable, as well.

Company\’s can save quite a bit of money if they buy office furniture because it is usually half the price of buying brand new furniture. Not only is it cost effective but the quality is usually the same. Craig Mather works to help companies find money saving used cubicle furniture by consulting with companies about it.