How To Reuse Office Furniture & Save

Written by Jon Driscoll

Recently, TradeIn.com purchased a large inventory of Knoll open office furniture from Santa Monica, CA.  They then resold the inventory redesigning it to meet a Buyers requirement in Alpharetta, Georgia.  The needed items were repackaged onto four trailers utilizing reusable packing materials and hauled via Southern Pacific Rail Road from California to Georgia.  Where it was installed and put back to full use.  However, after utilizing almost everything and working the design as best they could there remained approximately two hundred panels left over.

Not wanting to waste these panels by forgetting them in the back of the warehouse nor send them to a land fill the GreenTeam at Trade In set about finding a way to reuse them.  TradeIn.Com’ s mission to green office furniture has remained consistent for over twenty years, they do everything possible to keep product out of landfills and put back to work.

The challenge of what to do with the problem panels actually turned out to be the basis for a great solution. The first part of the answer presented itself in the form of a client needing to squeeze a lot of people into a relativity small space.  Getting them in the space was not the hard part, what was, was to provide acoustical privacy.  The solution to the panel dilemma and the acoustical challenge turned out to be one in the same.  TradeIn’s installers removed the fabric acoustical tiles from the metal panel frames and utilized them as acoustical wall treatments.  The result was a very happy client who received an attractive wall treatment with outstanding acoustical control.  Then they reused the wood trim from the panels as chair rails with the left over being donated for crafts use by a local special needs education association.  Lastly the metal frames were purchased by a metal recycler.
The end result was the GreenTeam supplied an outstanding new facility of furniture for over 160 workers in Georgia, saving the buyer over one hundred and eighty thousand dollars; reused all the fabric acoustic tiles; reused the wood trim and recycled one hundred percent of the metal product.  From the original fifty-two tons of office furniture not one pound was sent to the landfill.

Office Furniture Solutions is a division of TradeIn.com, Inc who is a national recycler of pre-owned office furniture, as well as an Eco conscious supplier of new and reused office furniture and equipment.  Call today to allow them the opportunity to be of service to you – I suggest you both will be glad you did.  Call 877-502-8237 to discuss you requirements.

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