The Benefits of Reuse for Businesses

After the incredible efforts of everyone involved in sustainability and resource efficiency over the last few years, it is rewarding to see reuse making such huge leaps towards being recognised as ‘the norm’.

The benefits of reuse:

• Fewer raw materials are required for the production of new furniture, preventing unnecessary pollution
• Reusing saves energy compared to power and energy required to recycle
• Fewer greenhouse gases are emitted, making your organisation’s contribution to climate change just a bit smaller
• Saves money on the procurement of assets that your organisation already owns and does not need
• Reduces the amount of waste being sent to landfill or incineration, and cost of this as well as carbon footprint of transporting items to landfill
• Allows products to be useful for their entire life cycle instead of until they are no longer deemed aesthetically pleasing
• Gives an opportunity for charities such as Bulky Bob’s Furniture World to stock free or very cheap furniture, and help in their mission to End Furniture Poverty by getting furniture to those most in need in our communities

Why give old furniture to charity?

As the old saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Well, your old office furniture is full of treasures! Unwanted electrical equipment, old chairs, desk, sofas, stationery, and more, can all be useful to a charity. It’s not just charity furniture shops that can benefit from your donations, think also of making charitable donations to community centres, churches, nonprofit organisations, and shelters. There are so many deserving outlets.

Useful equipment should never go to landfill, there will always be a new home for it, it just requires a bit of thought to find the ‘where’. Remember that it helps your community and those within the community who need help. You might also get some tax benefits!

Is repurposing furniture a good idea?

A good idea? It’s a great idea! Imagine you’ve got a chair and the fabric is all messed up, tattered, or super dirty. You can’t really salvage that fabric, but if the chair frame itself is still strong, and simply replacing the fabric would give you a functional and comfortable chair, then repurposing it would be a great idea!

We’ve seen even cooler ideas, such as filing cabinets being turned on their side and used as flowerbeds. The truth is though, it doesn’t matter what you turn old furniture into, as long as it’s useful and creates less waste, it’s better than going to landfill.

Are you keen to get creative? Search the term ‘upcycling’, plus the furniture you have available, on a search engine, and see what others have done. Repurposing furniture is not much different from recycling it and it leads to many of the same benefits.

Summary

By now you have a pretty good idea of the benefits of reusing and donating office furniture, so we leave you with just one more thing to think about. Consider the way the world has changed over the last decade. We’ve seen the vegetarian and vegan movements make huge strides, we’ve seen more people work from home, more people commute by bicycle, growing global recycling rates, and much more. Being green is positive, it’s pro-humanity and pro-Earth, it’s something to shout about. That’s the point, you should be shouting about it.

The next time your company makes a progressive decision, such as donating some old computers to charity, or turning a filing cabinet into a flower garden, just make sure to get some photos, to write about it, to spread the word, to let potential customers know that you are thoughtful and considerate. This can win you new business and help to keep the customers you already have.