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Buying used office furniture or refurbishing existing furniture is a good strategy for companies that are looking to cut down on operational costs without sacrificing the aesthetics or functionality of their furnishings. Helping the environment may not be on the agenda, but nevertheless this is another advantage of this practice. Waste is minimized through the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Companies can do their share in reducing the overall waste being deposited to landfills just by buying used office furniture or refurbishing their existing furniture. Just think: 40 workstations are already one tractor-trailer load of waste that can be saved from the landfill through recycling. Five to nine pounds of virgin material are also saved for every pound of natural resources used to repair or improve old office furniture. Recycling or reusing office furniture makes sense, because, in reality, many of the discarded conference tables, chairs, bookshelves, desks, sofas and the like are not really damaged.

They are consigned to the landfill simply because they look outdated or are slightly worn. Another possible reason is that the company may have bought a new office space or renovated the current workspace, and these pieces no longer fit the color scheme.

There are many companies in the business of selling recycled furniture. Recycled furniture may or may not need repairs or cosmetic changes before they can be resold.

There are actually three types of recycled furniture: reused, refurbished or remanufactured. Reused office furniture or office cubicles are resold and used as is. For instance, suppliers sometimes get pieces that are good enough to resell without making any repairs or improvements. Of the three kinds of recycled furniture, this type is the least expensive because there is little effort involved on the part of the supplier to make the items ready for selling. Refurbished office furniture refers to pieces that have value added to them through surface changes and repairs. This includes repairing the broken arm of a chair, reupholstering panels of office cubicles or adding new laminate surfaces for tables or desks. Companies have another option-they can have their existing furniture refurbished instead of making new purchases. Remanufactured office furniture also has value added to it, but includes structural level changes. This involves complete disassembly of the furniture, after which parts are inspected, cleaned then repaired or replaced.

The entire thing is put back together and refinished. For example, refurbishing old office cubicles includes repainting, application of new fabric on the panels, stripping and replacing of laminate, edge banding and molding. Recycling furniture benefits not just buyers and the environment, but suppliers as well. Studies show that changing or repairing an existing product needs less than 90 percent manufacturing effort and energy than creating a new product. Thus, companies dealing with used office furniture and office cubicles are able to run an operation that is both labor and energy saving.
Company's can save a good amount of money if they buy office furniture because it is usually half the price of new furniture. Not only is it cost effective but the quality is usually the same. Craig Mather works to help companies find money saving used cubicle furniture by consulting with companies about it.

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