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How Used Office Furniture And Cubicles Help The Environment
Posted by Craig Mather | Posted in Business | Posted on 08-02-2010
Buying used office furniture or refurbishing existing furniture is a good strategy for companies that are looking to cut down on operational costs without sacrificing the aesthetics or functionality of their furnishings. Helping the environment may not be on the agenda, but nevertheless this is another advantage of this practice. Waste is minimized through the three R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Buying or refurbishing used office furniture already reduces the overall amount of waste being deposited in landfills. One study shows that recycling just 40 workstations is equivalent to diverting one tractor-trailer load of furniture from a landfill. Also, it is estimated that for each pound of natural resources used to improve or repair old furniture so that it can be reused, five to nine pounds of virgin materials are conserved.
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 They are not really damaged or broken, just outdated or slightly worn perhaps.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.
Recycling means saving unwanted office furniture from the landfill and reselling them with or without additional repairs. This is done through remanufacturing, refurbishing or simple reuse. As the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
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.
Remanufactured office furniture also has value added to it, but includes structural level changes. This involves complete disassembly of the furniture, after which parts are inspected, cleaned then repaired or replaced. The entire thing is put back together and refinished. For example, refurbishing old office cubicles includes repainting, application of new fabric on the panels, stripping and replacing of laminate, edge banding and molding.
The environment and used office furniture users are not the only ones who benefit from recycling. Suppliers also save on labor and manufacturing energy. The amount of effort and energy required to alter an existing product is 85 percent to 90 percent less than what is needed to manufacture a new product.
Company’s can save a good amount of money if they purchase 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 writing articles about it.
