Recycled office furniture can be any previously owned office item. This type of green office furniture ranges from entire cubicles to filing cabinets, desks, chairs and more. These pieces of furniture can be classified as either recycled or refurbished. The first is purchased in as-is condition and the second has been repaired to be more like new.
Contemporary office furniture is known to wear down fast and many companies simply discard items once the time comes to purchase new. This buying philosophy has created a large surplus of furniture that is still usable, but not in new condition. There are companies around the globe that purchase these unwanted office items and sell them as recycled office furniture.
Chairs are one of the most popular resale items, because they are thrown out in large quantities. Desks also are discarded because of minor defects, wear and tear or simply an office's desire to redecorate. Filing cabinets are being rapidly replaced in office environments due in part to wear and tear, but more likely due to obsolescence because information is now mostly held on computers as opposed to in paper folders. Cubicle walls and room dividers are also routinely thrown out because of redecoration and changing company needs.
All these items constitute disregarded office elements that are reclaimed by recycling efforts. The most basic form of used item resale is by offering recycled office furniture. In this case the used items are acquired and sold without any changes made. No matter if the cubicle wall has a hole in it, the chair is missing a roller wheel or if a desk is in pristine, perfect condition, the items are left out for customers to inspect. This is a benefit for buyers because the prices are often low, but there is also a risk that items will not function properly.
Another classification of recycled office furniture is called refurbished. Refurbished office furniture takes the same used desks, chairs and cubicles, but fixes them up. By inspecting items, cleaning them and repairing whatever is wrong, the refurbished market provides buyers with quality furniture that is less expensive than new. Due to the labor and parts that go into fixing broken items, refurbished furniture is usually more expensive than recycled office furniture.
