Sustainable Disposal

For nearly seven years, Steelcase's Phase 2 Program (formerly the Steelcase Environmental Partnership Program) has helped businesses by facilitating responsible reuse options for their furniture. Whether it's asset management or refurbishing, or it's selling, donating or recycling — each option can lighten the landfill load, usually at less cost.

"No one needs an office in a landfill. Our goal is to help businesses put their office furniture and other assets to reuse – within their company or with another organization."

From successfully persuading customers that recycling isn't an extra hassle, to forging relationships with recycling organizations, to facilitating large-scale charitable reuse and assisting in the sale of our customer's used furniture as they purchase new — through it all, Angela and the team have been an unstoppable force.

The program has extended the useful life of thousands of furniture products and millions of pounds of raw materials. And there's a comparable program operating in Europe, too, so the effort is truly global. During just the past two years in North America alone we were able to put over 11,000+ chairs to reuse that our customers no longer wanted. These chairs were sold, recycled or offered for charitable reuse. That's over 240 tons of material that stayed out of landfills.

Like a lot of sustainability work, there is always more to do.

"During this past year we've changed the name of the program, but more importantly, stepped up our hands-on approach by assisting our customers to delineate the value of their furniture by condition. Some companies were able to offset the cost of new furniture by selling furniture that was in good condition and recycling what was not, and then put the remainder of their furniture and other materials to charitable reuse — a true, triple bottom line story."

Especially satisfying and impactful are continued efforts that have equipped schools, medical facilities and nonprofit organizations in countries very much in need of these and other resources. Furniture and equipment donations from universities and corporations have allowed recipients' limited capital to go toward other pressing needs. In the process, the donors have been able to empty warehouses full of valuable assets that can serve others. They can also save money in the process —shipping costs are usually 10–30% less than landfill fees. And there can be tax advantages, too.

Charitable reuse in large quantities can be difficult to achieve locally, which is why many companies haven't wanted to bother. Tapping into Steelcase's Phase 2 Program produces all the rewards of donating with little or no extra effort. At first, participants often think it's too good to be true. The metrics reports and pictures of the donated furniture in use that they receive prove the point.

"These companies are doing the right thing and everyone within the company can see the results and be proud of them." ■