You’re working late. A desolate office landscape harbors just a few faces among the sea of workstations, dimly lit by glowing monitors. Returning to your desk, you sit down & instantly experience a sinking feeling – your office chair is lower than it was. You examine your trusty task chair – sagging, torn & worn down. After weeks of staving off the inevitable, you reluctantly acknowledge what must be done. Wearily wheeling your once-supportive seat down the hall, broken casters rattle on the engineered flooring. As you reach the gates of the graveyard, both dread and your broken arm pad grip you. Resigning your swivel chair to it’s untimely fate, you push it into the small room, surrounded by years’ worth of forgotten task chairs, clinging to a half-life of wasted real estate. As you close the door, severing the last sliver of light cast upon the collection of dusty desk chairs & ragged reception seating, you shed a tear for your fallen comrade & wish there was a better way.
Fearsome Facts for Upholstered Office Furniture
What is the impact of a chair that ends up in the landfill? A cubicle workstation?
Well, let’s think about it in terms that relate to a 2013 estimate from the EPA. Upholstered office furniture is considered “durable goods” & typically hits the categories of metals, plastics, textiles, and wood. The study found 52 million tons of waste were generated by the United States in durable goods alone, and only 18% of that was recycled in one form or another.
After used office furniture hits the landfill, factor in the manufacturing process for new furniture & the inherent consumption required. In addition to the environmental impact, consider the effect on your bottom line. Once you’ve summed the cost of buying new furniture, add the waste removal or tipping fees incurred & resources expended to manage surplus & disposal. You’ve now got a recipe for a very costly, highly unsustainable process.
Reap the Benefits of Recycling
What are all the factors involved when deciding between replacing & recycling? Now, let’s think about this in terms of the Triple Bottom Line. Consider a Facilities Manager replacing the seating for a whole Sales Department. Say that’s (50) task chairs, and the FM is making a decision between purchasing new & recycling.
It’s Alive!
A main component of OFW’s mission is to reduce wasted resources: that entails your time, money & effort in addition to those materials destined for the landfill. MyChairDoctor is one of the ways we try to further our sustainability efforts: by recycling task chairs & restoring their useful life, we’re able to minimize landfill waste from office chairs & the cost incurred to the end user.
MyChairDoctor provides reupholstery, chair part replacement & repair, and recycling services to businesses and individuals looking for a more environmentally-sound & cost-effective solution for their office chairs & upholstered cubicles. Does your office seating need saving?
Thanks for Reading!
Office Furniture Works is in the business of making your workplace work harder, finding solutions to meet the bigger goals for your office environment using our unique product|service mix & 25+ years’ experience. Wondering about what you can do to implement sustainable, ergonomic solutions for your task seating?