What do you do with your un-needed or unwanted furniture assets when you move or renovate?

A significant portion of landfill waste is generated from the corporate environment, and most of that is furniture and equipment. With increased awareness and accountability for companies to behave as good corporate citizens, and with pressure to meet CSR (corporate social responsibility) goals, we can help with the responsible re-disposition of your office furnishings.

At Coakley Brothers, we take our role in the furniture supply chain very seriously, and strive to help our clients strive for zero waste with a combination of the various options available to you. With a focus on the bottom line, and an educated effort to keep furniture out of our landfills, Coakley Brothers’ staff can help you assess your options and help make responsible decisions.

• Reconditioning and/or Reconfiguration
Refresh and renew the existing products that may have many serviceable years ahead but simply need to be repaired, painted, touched up or reupholstered. We can help identify the realistic options in this category. We work with many customers who need help with the assessment process of their existing inventory. Reconfiguring your office space plan can also breathe new life into existing furniture that may seam to no longer suit your needs only because of how it is being utilized. Through the design services offered at Coakley Brothers, a more effective office space plan may be just the ticket.

• Resale
The used furniture market is an option only if you are realistic about the value of your furniture assets. The industry rule of thumb for used systems furniture is that your perfectly good used furniture is likely worth between 1 – 10 % of its original invoiced value. That is if the product is in good shape and not missing components or trim. Anything less than perfectly good workstations, chairs and lateral filing cabinets could become a cost burden to you. Vertical filing cabinets are not valued at all in the resale market. Many of our customers are happy to have the product removed at no cost, however in many cases you will be faced with costs for removal if your furniture is not deemed to be marketable. Experience counts when working with the used furniture market, let us take the headache out of the analysis and present you with your realistic options.

• Donation
Often considered the first stop for perfectly good, but no-longer-needed furniture, donating to a not-for-profit or start-up organization is a great way to do the right thing and keep furniture out of a landfill. Donating furniture however is not a simple business. Your donated furniture needs to match the needs and space requirements of your chosen organization at just the moment that they need it. Even if the timing happens to be right, is it the right size, the right color, or functional for them? Does it need to be re-designed or modified to suit their needs? Most NFP organizations have the same work place management considerations that any other business has. So it is a complicated process to connect the available product to the current need. Coakley Brothers can help with the tricky business of making good on your intentions. We can certainly help with adding donation to your decommissioning plan.

• Recycling
The next-to-last option for your used furniture is to have it removed from site and responsibly dismantled and recycled for all salvageable parts and materials. This is typically a task our clients cannot take on themselves. With a large warehouse facility, trucks, experienced staff and the tools for the job we can assist with this necessary step. Coakley Brothers will remove all of the decommissioned furniture from your facility separating the product that is recyclable from what is not recyclable. Then transport it to the appropriate destination. Although we have a goal of zero waste, this is often difficult to achieve as most systems furniture and seating are comprised of between 10% to 70% recyclable materials. (most systems furniture have between 20% - 50% recyclable content while chairs are broader range depending on component materials). Most metal cabinets are 100% recyclable after they have served a long life!