GreenWorks is dedicated to helping the environment by diverting large quantities of redundant office and educational furniture from landfill with the prime aim of ‘re-use’. As part of the London Re-use Network which is made up of local charities and not for profit organizations that work together to deliver reuse and repair services, GreenWorks collects from very large office blocks to single office suites and provides second hand quality re-use furniture to charities, community and educational groups and small business via the network.
Removing unwanted office furniture
So how do we do it?
The key to our service is our depot network. This is what enables us to aim for such high reuse rates. How? Well this is where people are employed to repair, to clean and to grade the furniture. It's where we break down the un-reusable furniture in detail for recycling into plastic, textiles, wood and metal.
And of course this is where we can store the furniture while it awaits it's opportunity to help another organisation either here or in the developing world. We can and do sell and recycle straight from a clients office when the need is there but removing furniture back to a depot can add massively to it's potential.
Our Results
GreenWorks aims to divert up to 98% of all furniture that comes through it's door from landfill - there are very few companys who can demonstrate that!
To achieve that we have opened up completely new markets for reusable furniture that commercial operators cannot reach. Removing office furniture and reusing it is so much better for the environment than even recycling so we work every day to bring good furniture to people who might not otherwise be able to afford it. For us recycling or energy recovery are last options. We continually strive to reduce the amount we recycle by finding innovative and creative ways to re-use.
As a result we have saved over 58,000 tonnes of C02e from being emitted and created over 800 training opportunities since we started up.
Furniture Facts
Around 500,000 tonnes of furniture goes to landfill each year
There are 180,000 charities in the UK who could benefit from your unwanted items
A standard desk uses 530kgs of extracted material to manufacture new
Reusing furniture creates jobs and training opportunities for many disadvantaged or long term unemployed people
An area of forest the size of the UK is destroyed each year and upto 50% of total forest cover has been destroyed by human activity
GreenWorks is a trading name of London Re-use Limited which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LCRN
(London Community Resource Network)
Charity Number 1118616
Registered Company 07114380