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According to Anthony Robinson, managing director of business moving specialists Robinsons, facilities managers do two things with their ofﬁce furniture when moving premises: they either put it in a skip or they put it in a dark corner and forget about it.

In many cases, these ‘dark corners’ are Robinson’s own warehouses, where clients store as many as 200 tonnes of old desks and other equipment that will never see the light of day. Robinson argues that keeping furniture in storage or sending it to landﬁll is both ﬁnancially and environmentally irresponsible, as there are organisations that can make productive use of unwanted items and will even pay to take them off people’s hands.

In order to help organisations realise the value of unwanted furniture, IT equipment, vending machines and other items and reduce the estimated 500,000 tonnes of furniture sent to landﬁll each year, Robinsons is supporting its business relocation service with a new range of intelligent recycling solutions that can help businesses cut the cost of relocation and meet corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies.

“Di-Vert is an intelligent, sustainable recycling solution that unlocks hidden value for end of term furniture, IT

equipment and vending machines,” explained Robinson.

“We will take unwanted items away and make sure they don’t go to landﬁll. We will ﬁnd someone to pay money for them. Or, if that’s not possible, we’ll get them broken down for re-use. The main beneﬁt is that instead of losing cash, some money will be coming back to an organisation from second-hand or scrap value.”

Another beneﬁt of Di-vert is that it is fully audited. By providing clients with a full audit trail of what happens to items once they have been collected, Robinsons helps them demonstrate compliance with corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. “Disposing of unwanted items

responsibly doesn’t have to be costly and it can bring ﬁnancial rewards as well as CSR beneﬁts because we give facilities managers a full audit trail and a certiﬁcate showing this is what will happen to the old vending machine or whatever it is,” Robinson said. “Most furniture will have a use for someone else who might not need the ultimate in a brand spanking new image, such as second- or third-tier organisations that don’t have the budget for the very best but who can take 200 desks that are seven or so years old.When furniture gets to 20 or 30 years old, you are looking at charitable donations or shipping it abroad. But if it does have to be broken down, the materials market is buoyant, so the metal chassis can be recycled, as can the wood itself, which can be turned into cabinets or pulped down and used for horse bedding for example.”

One of the ﬁrst organisations to beneﬁt from Di-vert is Salford Royal Foundation Trust, which contracted Robinsons to remove bedroom and ofﬁce furniture from 160 rooms in a 10-storey block prior to its demolition. Robinsons arranged for the furniture to be donated to a number of local charities including the Tree of Life Centre, Age Concern, Salford Community Transport andWesley Furniture. By making use of old furniture in this way and by providing an audit trail, Di-vert has helped the Trust meet its CSR obligations and save money on landﬁll taxes.

“There is a commercial reality here,” explained Robinson. “We can actually make money from unwanted items. Di-vert provides businesses with a process for disposing of furniture and equipment in a responsible way that also gives them the opportunity to make savings and generate revenue.”

Di-vert is a new service designed to minimise the environmental impact of ofﬁce moves and release the hidden value of unwanted assets. Sustainable Times spoke to Anthony Robinson, managing director of business moving specialists Robinsons, to ﬁnd out more