Repairing chairs and lecture theatre seating rather than replacing with new has saved almost £55,000. In a new initiative, the Space Resource team, responsible for managing internal spaces across campuses, have refurbished existing furniture rather than buying new, reducing the carbon footprint from the University’s purchases.
The operator chairs (see photo) are usually around £180 each new, but only £40 to refurbish, which includes re-gassing to ensure the chairs remain height adjustable.
Lecture theatre seating in the Pope building on University Park campus was also earmarked for an upgrade. By refurbishing seating, a cost of £50 per chair compared to the usual £132 to replace, seeing savings of more than £40,000.
Space Resource and Programme Manager Adrian Mawdsley adds: “This kind of initiative sees a double win for the University: not only are we saving money through refurbishing rather than replacing furniture, we are also contributing to a smaller environmental footprint through avoiding manufacture and transportation of new equipment.”
Following the success of this first trial, refurbishing rather than replacing is to be applied for future projects wherever feasible.
WARPit, the Waste Action Reuse Portal, has also been running since 2016, allowing staff looking to replace furniture to search for items being given away across the University. WARPit can also be used for any reusable items (as long as they are for University use rather than personal use), including furniture, stationery and educational resources. Damaged chairs no longer needed can also be refurbished and re-used via the WARPit portal.
Posted on Tuesday 27th February 2018