The Benefits of Buying Sustainable Office Furniture

Australia has an office furniture waste problem, with tons of office furniture dumped in landfills nationwide every year. However, there is a sustainable solution to tackling this unnecessary waste.

Read on to learn about sustainable office furniture and how our Sustainable Office Solutions team in Melbourne are helping to drive a change.

The plague of office furniture waste

It is estimated that over 55,000-tonnes of office furniture waste makes its way to landfills every year in Australia. This is partly due to corporate culture, which is to abandon their office furniture in a previous office in lieu of new fit-outs in future premises.

This excess of unnecessary office furniture waste includes:

• Office chairs
• Desks
• Work stations
• Cupboards
• Compactus units
• Filing cabinets
• Floating ceiling tiles
• White goods
• Carpet tiles
• Window blinds
• Cubical dividers and much more

Throwing out broken and worn-out office furniture is understandable; however, much of the office furniture being abandoned or dumped is still well within its life expectancy, if not virtually brand-new.

The average office in Australia moves or is re-fitted approximately every six years, which is often the responsibility of the landlord or building manager, which has, to a degree, created a vacuum of accountability.

From the perspective of company profits, this is partially understandable, as the cost of moving an entire office is an overly expensive process; often, a new re-fit is a cheaper and more tax-deductible expense.

While some office furniture, like filing cabinets, can be sent to metal recycling, most office furniture is heavily reliant on hard plastics, most of which are unlikely to break down in our lifetime.

Until recently, the hidden scourge of office furniture waste has been mainly that, hidden. So, what can be done in the meantime to help curb the amount of office furniture waste created? Read on to learn more.

What is the Solution?

While some corporations, governments and eco-agencies have put together think-tanks to tackle the problem at its core, there have yet to be financially sustainable solutions that corporate entities are willing to embrace en-mass.

However, some agencies and organisations are spearheading a sustainable and eco-friendly future by ensuring that office furniture manufacturers are committed to addressing sustainability at the manufacturing stage.

Geca

Good Environmental Choice Australia is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to sustainable consumption and production in various industries, including office furniture fabrication and distribution.

A product can only obtain GECA certification if it has proven that it has been fabricated in an environmentally-friendly way that meets GECA's strict parameters of environmental sustainability.

In collaboration with Edge Environment and the Global Product Stewardship Council, GECA has recently been awarded a grant that GECA will implement into a scheme that they estimate could reduce up to 30,000-tonnes of office furniture waste in Australia per year.

BIFMA

The Business and Institutional Manufacturers Association is a not-for-profit organisation that sponsors furniture manufacturers that have proven to meet their standards in developing and maintaining furniture safety, performance, and sustainability standards.

Greenguard

While Greenguard does not necessarily contribute to reducing office furniture waste at a consumer level, it does provide certification to manufacturers who have scientifically proven that they meet some of the world's most rigorous third-party chemical emissions standards.

This can help negate some carbon emissions produced by making products included in the office furniture waste problem. Reducing these emissions is also good for human health by reducing human chemical exposure.

AFRDI

The Australiasian Furnishing Research and Development Institute is an independent not-for-profit technical organisation dedicated to providing testing, research, and product certification standards for buyers and sellers of furniture, including office furniture.

The purpose of conducting ongoing testing and certification is to ensure that furniture products are safe for use, and durable, therefore contributing to sustainability and minimising the use of the earth's resources in the fabrication of office furniture.

Sustainable office furniture

Many companies that obtain certification from these organisations achieve accreditation by using recycled materials in their furniture, which creates a considerably better eco-system in the life cycle of office furniture.

However, there is an even better way to reduce the impact of the office furniture waste dilemma significantly, and that is by re-using the existing office that is still fit for operation and service.

This is the plight of our Sustainable Office Solutions team. Our business model is built around the premise that while recycling plays a significant part in addressing the sustainable office furniture problem, re-using office furniture takes the solution a step further.

We procure quality, reusable office furniture around Melbourne, broader Victoria, and other parts of Australia from old office spaces and turn them into sustainable office furniture solutions for single home offices, shared working spaces, or new corporate office fitouts.

We offer a diverse range of sustainable office products, with generic and designer office furniture available in our catalogue.

Examples of our wide range of office furniture solutions include, but are not limited to:

• Second-hand office chairs
• Work stations and desks
• Storage and filing cabinets
• Reusable carpet tiles
• Benches and tables and much more

Our second-hand office furniture is of the highest quality, with many brands being GECA, BIFMA, Greenguard, and AFRDI certified.

Examples of some of our designer second-hand office chairs and office furniture brands include industry leaders such as:

• Hafele
• Zenith
• Wilkhan
• Haworth
• Herman Miller and much more

Our services also include full office strip-outs and buyback solutions designed to encourage corporate entities to contribute to the office furniture waste solution.

Although companies like ours are spearheading the waste solution, we can't do it alone and need more major corporations to take steps to help us work towards minimising office furniture waste as much as possible.

Sustainable Office Solution: Be part of the solution

Whether you are looking to deck out your post-Covid home office, provide quality ergonomic office furniture for your elite team, or re-fit an entire office for your extensive corporate workforce, our sustainable office furniture specialists can provide a solution that works within your office fit-out budget.

If you have an office that you are preparing to vacate and want to contribute to tackling Australia's office waste epidemic, then we would love to hear from you.

For more information about our office removals services, or to learn more about our wide range of sustainable office solutions, contact us today on 03 9312 6341, or send your enquiry via email.