1. Ashfords Solicitors – 90 person office – Full clearance
Services
Clearance and recycling of furniture, rubbish, IT and WEEE Purchase of resaleable furniture and IT
Due to relocation, Ashford Solicitors moved out of their 90 person office in Baker Street. They only relocated some of their IT and filing – leaving the bulk of furniture and IT. We bought approximately 40% of the remaining furniture and most of the IT as it had a resale value. We cleared and recycled the rest of the furniture, IT, WEEE and general waste. All the work was completed over a weekend.
2. Novas Scarman – 100 person office building – Full clearance
Services
Clearance and recycling of furniture, rubbish, IT and WEEE
Hazardous waste disposal (CRT monitors, fridges, flurescent bulbs and paint)
Purchase of assets, including furniture and IT and works of art
Certified data destruction (paper shredding and hard drive destruction)
Removal of selected furniture to Manchester, Bristol and
Having closed a 4 storey office in the Dockland area of London, People Can called us in to clear all the contents. Our charges were significantly reduced because of the ‘offset’ we were able to offer on some of the seating, IT and works of art that were included in the clearance.
People Can are a charity who work with vulnerable people. They therefore wanted all the remaining documents and hard drives to be destroyed, and to be provided with data destruction certificates.
There was a large quantity of hazardous materials that needed to be properly disposed of. This included a large quantity of paint.
We were also instructed to remove a quantity of canteen equipment and seating to their head offices in Manchester, and distribute some items to various regional centres.
Feedback
“We called in a number of companies to quote on this project, and Clearance Solutions not only provided the by far the best price, but were the only company that seemed experienced at and willing to handle the various tasks we required.
We where very happy with the overall experience, and would be delighted to use Clearance Solutions again.”
Maureen Browne
3. FDM Group – 250 person office – Partial clearance
Services
Purchase of seating and desktop IT
Clearance of remaining furniture and WEEE
Certified data destruction
FDM group moved their offices in King William street, EC to Manchester. Most of the furniture, desktop IT was left behind. We purchased the operator chairs and IT and cleared the remaining contents. They required all the hard drives to be securely ‘wiped’, and any remaining paper documents shredded.
FDM required the work to be carried out in 2 phases.
Feedback
4. BBC – 1500 person clearance and furniture reuse and clearance at BBC Television Centre
Introduction
Clearance Solutions Ltd won the tender to undertake the clearance of East Tower and the Drama Building at Television Centre.
The brief was to achieve a highly environmentally and socially responsible solution. Special emphasis was placed on achieving a high rate of reuse for the furniture, with charities and good causes receiving donations. In addition we offered to produce a report for the BBC, detailing the reuse and recycle rates we achieved during the project, and the carbon dioxide ‘saved’ as a result.
The site consisted of offices, studio areas, seminar rooms, reception areas, workshops, storage areas and utility rooms. In total over 200 tonnes of furniture and bulky waste was cleared.
The challenge was to achieve a high level of reuse with furniture that had very little economic value, This was mainly due to the vast majority of the furniture being between 10-15 years old. It was therefore hard to place in the second hand market.
Reporting
In order to provide an accurate report of the results, we made an inventory of all the items, and weighed an example of each of the various types of furniture and bulky waste items on site. By monitoring the destination of the items cleared, we were able to calculate the results.
Good News
The BBC was keen to ensure good causes such as charities benefitted by receiving furniture donations. We managed to donate a considerable amount to charity, with the largest single reciprocant being Kids Company, the charity founded and run by Camila Batmanjhelidjh. Kids Company received over 250 items of furniture, including all the furniture from the Newsround offices. Overall charities were donated over 400 items.
“Dear Rufus
A huge and heartfelt thank you from all the staff and children at Kids Company. Please thank the lovely people at the BBC for all the furniture you delivered to us. We are happily distributing it at our Head office and at the Heartyard, our therapy house. It is especially important for us to create a bright and welcoming sanctuary for vulnerable children and we have struggled to be able to afford even basic furniture until now.
With love
Camila ”
Reuse
We also donated a large proportion of the furniture to other charities through a third party reuse network and to commercial used furniture dealers. In total over half of all the materials used by weight were reused.
Recycling and Waste-to-Energy
The remaining items were recycled or incinerated at waste-to-energy plants. This was achieved by separating out the component materials on site into recyclable streams such as wood, plastic and metal. Then they were transported to local recycling facilities and transfer stations.
Results
- Carbon dioxide saved through reuse: 481.6 Tonnes
- Items reused as % of total weight cleared: 53.4%
- Materials recycled as % of total weight cleared: 24.7%
- Materials incinerated as waste-to-energy as % of total weight cleared: 21.9%
- Materials landfilled by % of total weight cleared: ZERO
- Total weight of materials cleared from the site: 206.4 Tonnes
Conclusion
The combination of reuse and on site waste stream separation and management resulted in a highly ‘green’ clearance. And by successfully finding good causes in need of furniture, we also helped the BBC to achieve some of their social goals. Because of Clearance Solutions relationships with a wide range of used furniture resellers, we secured a high level of reuse in spite of the low value of the furniture. This demonstrates the environmental and social benefits that can be achieved through a dedicated reuse orientated approach to clearance projects.
5. Hertfordshire University – Faculty clearance and furniture Reuse and Clearance (St Albans campus)
Herts University Hatfield Road Campus
Introduction
Clearance Solutions Ltd won the tender to clear Hertfordshire University’s (HU) Law faculty in St Albans of all the remaining contents after they moved out to a new building.
The brief was to achieve a highly environmentally responsible solution, with special emphasis placed on achieving a high rate of reuse for the contents, which mainly consisted of furniture and other bulky waste items. In addition we offered to produce a report for HU, detailing the reuse and recycle rates we achieved during the project, and the carbon dioxide ‘saved’ as a result.
The site consisted of offices, a large library, seminar rooms, a canteen, lecture theatres, reception areas and utility rooms. In total 29 tonnes of furniture and bulky waste was cleared from the site.
The challenge was achieve a high level of reuse with furniture that had very little economic value. This was because the furniture was originally inexpensive and between 7-15 years old. It was also on the whole reasonably ‘tired’. See below for examples of the furniture.
Reporting
In order to provide an accurate report of the results, we inventoried and weighed all the various types of furniture and bulky waste items on site. By monitoring the destination of the items cleared, we were able to calculate the results.
Reuse
Although we were unable to sell the vast majority of the furniture, we were able to donate a large proportion of it to secondhand furniture resellers. Despite not receiving payment for the vast majority of the furniture, cost savings did result from reduced labour costs as the items were in most cases collected by the third parties in situ.
Recycling and Waste-to-Energy
The remaining items were recycled or incinerated at waste-to-energy plants. This was achieved by separating out the component materials on site into recyclable streams such as wood, plastic and metal, and transporting them to local recycling / transfer stations.
Results
- Carbon dioxide saved through reuse: 63.6 Tonnes
- Items reused as % of total weight cleared: 50.7%
- Materials recycled as % of total weight cleared: 23.5%
- Materials incinerated as waste-to-energy as % of total weight cleared: 25.6%
- Materials landfilled by % of total weight cleared: 0.2%
- Total weight of materials cleared from the site: 28.81 Tonnes
Conclusion
The combination of reuse and on site waste stream separation and management resulted in a highly ‘green’ clearance. Due to Clearance Solutions Ltd relationships with a wide range of used furniture resellers, we secured a high level of reuse in spite of the low value of the furniture. This demonstrates the environmental benefits that can be achieved through a reuse orientated approach.
