We are all aware that we all need to be doing more for our environment.

Slowly but surely the tide is turning & more & more people are making changes to their lifestyles & working practices to ensure they are reducing their carbon footprint.

A lot of working people have a place of work they attend, whether this be a factory, warehouse, office, co-working space, roof top; the possibilities are endless. However, one thing all of these spaces have in common is the need for furniture. Whether you work in a warehouse/factory setting, office/home office or co-working space; items such as chairs, desks, drawers, etc all have to be sourced from somewhere.

However, one wonders if many employee’s & workers consider when they arrive & leave for their working day, where the chair they have sat on during an average working day for work or lunch was made? was it made from a sustainable source? were the people who made it fairly treated & fairly paid? has it been up-cycled or recycled?

It is hard to imagine with the pressures of modern working patterns that these questions are often the most pressing to answer during an average working day. Nevertheless, with the global shift towards a more sustainable & renewable future, they are questions which more workers/employees are asking & in particular those employees who have responsibilities about their office furniture choices.

Therefore, what options are open to those who need to supply office based equipment or what solutions are available for home workers or those setting up a co-working space?

Co-working spaces.

The continued upsurge in co-working spaces being rolled out the UK, speaks volumes about the changes in modern working patterns. As more & more workers are either self-employed, shift workers, freelancers or simply those whose work takes them from city to city, town to town; the availability of a fully furnished & serviced flexible place to work , continues to support modern flexible working.

As many people turn to freelance & self-employment, the co-working space is a perfect place to work & network. The very nature of the co-working space means that independent workers don’t have the need to purchase their own furniture & therefore they are by default reducing their carbon footprint. Furthermore, some co-working spaces are going one step further by fully recycling the environment they are presented in.

One such company to completely up-cycle not only the land they have built their co-working spaces on, but the format they are presented in; is BakkeRij in the Netherlands.

The innovative BakkeRij project is now located on the Hendrik Figee site in the Waarderpolder . The former central bakery of Van Vessem has become a headstrong collective building for the small entrepreneur. There are 60 used cocoa containers that together form 54 unique workplaces. A special workplace with a flexible lease and neighbours who are also entrepreneurs! (1)

Upcycling / Recycling.

Up-cycling office furniture has become a go to option not only for start ups on budgets, but community projects, entrepreneurs & ethically minded business owners, freelancers & self-employed.

Many bigger businesses who update their fixtures & fittings, often pass these on to charitable organisations who can then up-cycle to other businesses.

Once such charity is Edu-Care Recycling UK. Edu-Care UK not only repair, up-cycle/re-cycle up to 90% of the furniture they take in, dramatically reducing the amount of furniture making it’s way in to landfill; but they also invest in people. Anyone can purchase from Edu-Care UK, whether you are a business, home worker or simply setting up a home office for your family.

Edu-Care up-skill unemployed people in the community by providing work placements, training, work skills & volunteer opportunities. They offer 2 day taster sessions, work experience placements & apprenticeships, & work with Work Programme providers to find suitable employees for their vacancies. (2)

Sustainable & ethical industry.

The need for manufacturers of business furniture to share & show their products are sustainable, has become essential across the board. One such company flying the flag for sustainable office solutions, is the Senator Group based in Lancashire, UK.

The Senator Group have not only ensured that at least 99% of their furniture is fully recyclable & in some cases 100%; they have also built two recycling operations named Sustain to ensure their ethos carries forward, beyond their sales.

Sustain helps us as a business too, reducing waste across our whole business using our ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ principles. The idea is very simple, we look at what waste we’re creating and work out innovative ways of reducing and or removing it. Through Sustain we recycled over 4,000 tonnes of material in 2014 and reused hundreds of thousands of items. We’re really proud that our own recycling rate is currently at 97.7% and nothing from our desking or seating factory ever goes to landfill.

Remanufacturing Service
Furniture remanufacturing can be considered as a way of turning your existing furniture into ‘good as new’.

Packaging Recycling Service
Throwing materials away not only costs you money but also adds to landfill shortage and wastes valuable resources that could be recycled.

Furniture Recycling Service
Did you know it costs approximately the same to recycle an item of furniture as it does to send it to landfill? (3)

Whatever your working conditions & whom ever you work for, the need for the equipment we use daily to be fully sustainable, recyclable, up-cycled or recycled, has never been more prevalent & with the options seeming to be endless; there can be no reason for any business not to embrace a more sustainable option for their working environments.

Written by Katy-Jane for & on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd.