Repurposing Office Furniture Leads to Positive ESG Outcomes

As eco-conscious companies seek more ways to be sustainable – especially in their efforts to meet ESG goals – one of the simplest and most beneficial opportunities is right in front of them.

Repurposing and recycling office furniture – whether during a moveout or renovation – prevents these items from going to landfills.

Green Standards is the leading program platform driving these outcomes. The company is 10 years old, but co-founder and CEO Trevor Langdon said he’s seeing great momentum behind this strategy in recent years.

Green Standards has worked with 25% of the Fortune 100 companies to keep 100,000+ tons of furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FFE) out of landfills. By combining donation, resale, and recycling strategies, Green Standards helps companies virtually eliminate waste across corporate office move and renovation projects in what it calls “sustainable decommissioning.”

In a typical office move, renovation, or closure, more than 80% of the FFE is sent to a landfill, the company said.

“There’s nothing worse than hearing from clients, ‘Geez, I wish we had known about you before,’ ” said Langdon, whose company serves clients globally as well.

“About 80 percent of office furniture ends up in landfills, but we’re turning the corner on this in terms of repurposing these items.

A lot of companies over the years have gotten rid of their unwanted furniture through basic waste hauling because it’s all they’ve known; they haven’t even considered alternative methods.”

“ESG (or environment social governance) has put a spotlight on this,” Langdon said. “Companies that have established sustainability goals hear of us and begin to think, we could do this instead.”

Langdon said that when companies look at the cost for waste hauling, they see that using his company’s services is not a whole lot different from what it was costing them the other way.

Bridgette McAdoo, global sustainability officer, Genesys, a software provider based in California, tells GlobeSt.com, “We’re focused on ensuring sustainability is embedded into the core of our business at Genesys and the alignment between our future of work model and our sustainability goals is a great example of that in action.

“As we adjusted to our more flexible working model, we had to take into consideration what that could mean for the impact of our footprint from the beginning of the transition to the end.

“Being able to partner with an organization like Green Standards helped us keep equipment out of landfills while also giving back to our local communities.”

About 98% of Items Avoid Landfills

Through its process, Green Standards doesn’t simply call up a liquidator to get the job done, Langdon said.

“We consider for each assignment what makes the most sense and what is the best use for these resources, so about 98% of what we pick up avoids the landfills,” he said.

Langdon estimates that 25% of the goods he picks up are re-sellable, about 30% to 50% can be donated and whatever can’t be donated can be sent to specialized recyclers. On average, only 2% of inventory reaches landfills. These items are truly past the end of their lifecycle or can’t be efficiently recycled locally.

Langdon said one of the most rewarding redistributions is when his company sends the furniture to non-profits. It has 20,000 of them that have signed up on its site.

Among the most unusual items the company has picked up are sewing machines, dental chairs, exercise equipment, phone booths (not the ol’-fashioned kind), a passenger van and two forklifts.

Langdon said when it comes to what furniture is in most demand, that trends come and go, and high-paneled workstations are a perfect example.

“At one point, our warehouses were full of them,” he said. “But now, given the focus on the ‘future of workplace,’ high-paneled workstations are back in demand. And ergonomic seating of any kind has always been something groups are looking for.”

He said that some clients seek specific furniture brands or types, and others are happy to take any.

Clearance Takes About One Week Per Floor

As a rule of thumb, Langdon said it can remove furniture at a rate of one floor per week – based on a floor that is 20,000 square feet with about 100 employees.

Other factors include if the job is being done on a 75-floor building or a 3-floor building and whether it’s in urban or suburban areas. The distances to the elevators or the loading dock is also important. And in some cases, there might not even be a dock.

Because it maintains relationships with major resellers in every market and region, Green Standards can get the best price for furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

Dashboard Helps Clients Track Progress, Reach Goals

Recognizing the importance of ESG reporting, Green Standards then delivers a full project report, which is designed to meet the specific company’s ESG goals.

Green Standards’ services are used as more than simply a one-property job. Its clients commission it portfolio-wide and track progress through Green Standards’ dashboard.

“These reports are presented consistently so the company can track its achievements and understand how its cumulative sustainability efforts are making a difference,” Langdon said.

One large-scale example is General Motors (GM), where it’s been contracted to do the automaker’s entire Warren Tech Center’s campus – a 5-year program that covers about 2 million square feet.

With the funds from its furniture resale, GM has made a $1 million in-kind donation to its locality to show how it is being a good partner with the community, Langdon said.

Green Standards has partnerships with contracted companies in place nationally that perform the labor in given markets. Wages are based on location and scope of the job.

“Office spaces will continue to evolve, but there’s always going to be a need for stuff to be displaced – no matter what,” Langdon said.