What is the Lifecycle of Office Furniture? Where does Used Office Furniture go?  

Whether you are moving your business to a new location or renovating a current office, you will need to decide what furniture to use in your new workspace.  What do you do with furniture that you don’t need anymore?  Do you buy new, or are there quality pre-owned alternatives available? Understanding the lifecycle of office furniture can help with your purchasing decision.

All furniture starts out through a process of collecting raw materials that are then processed and refined (i.e. wood, leather, fabric, and metal).  Manufacturers design and assemble the raw materials into a final product to then be sold into the marketplace as new furniture.  When the furniture is no longer wanted or needed by the original owner, the typical end to the furniture lifecycle has been to send it directly to the landfill.  Now there are more sustainable, and often cost-saving, options available.

Beyond this outdated linear lifecycle model, companies can now choose to repurpose their preowned usable office furniture.  Recycling office furniture back into the marketplace offers a closed-loop lifecycle that not only reduces the amount of waste going to our landfills, but also reduces the amount of raw materials needed to create new furniture.   

7 Steps of Recycled Office Furniture Lifecycle

When office furniture is no longer needed or wanted, there are companies, such as Envirotech Office Systems, that can help.  Call to discuss what options are available and what is right for your situation.

1. Unwanted furniture is removed from the customer’s facility  
2. Product is inspected for usability and market value
3. Furniture that is to be sold ‘As-is’, receives minor cleaning 
4. Refurbished furniture receives minor cleaning with additional cosmetic touches, and then sold
5. Remanufactured furniture is disassembled; usable parts repaired or replaced, reassembled, refinished, and then sold as ‘better than new’.  
6. Parts and materials that that could not be reused in the remanufacturing process because they have come to the end of their lifecycle, are either sent to be recycled or sent to the landfill.  
7. Customers choose to purchase recycled office furniture.