With sustainability and the preservation of our shared environment high on national and international agendas – reflected in the build-up and anticipation for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow – the office clearance industry, like every other, is looking for new ways to enhance their environmental credentials.
Fortunately, at Clear Workspace, these credentials have been in evidence for some time. In fact, they are a core part of our corporate social responsibility framework, and an aspect of our business about which all of our staff are not unreasonably proud. For inherent in the nature of office clearance is the fact that objects, furniture and items – large or small – may end up surplus to requirements. This puts a huge responsibility on office clearance firms to treat such unwanted assets ethically.
It is a responsibility that Clear Workspace takes seriously, embedding it into our business structure. In real terms, it means that, wherever possible, items no longer required following an office clearance will either be found a new home or recycled. And it is a service offered nationwide, whether carrying out a London office clearance or an office relocation in the Midlands.
Office Clearance Recycling
Clear Workspace is part of a network of charities and second-user dealers, enabling an enormous reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill. In addition, Clear Workspace has access to a range of waste transfer sites and recycling centres across the UK, meaning that no matter where the office clearance, items that can be saved from landfill, will be.
Items that are regrettably beyond reuse will be converted or reduced to their core elements (e.g. desks are reduced to sawdust). This, combined with our recycling ethos, makes Clear Workspace the number one choice for organisations looking to downsize, move to a bigger space or simply relocate to a new office.
When undertaking an office relocation or removal, Clear Workspace is able to recycle directly on site (subject to space and other considerations). If recycling cannot take place on location, our fleet of removal vehicles and trained teams will remove waste from the site and take it to certified recycling centres.
Clear Workspace is able to carry out recycling no matter where the office relocation or clearance is taking place – with our nationwide connections to recycling centres, our customers can rest assured that Clear Workspace has the knowledge and experience to ensure no items that can be recycled end up at the tip.
Office Clearance Donation
Another option is the donation of unwanted office furniture to those that need them most. Clear Workspace has longstanding partnerships with charities in Africa and the UK which distribute goods that would have been thrown away and give them to new owners. Such items naturally include office furniture, but they also encompass items such as cutlery and clothing, which, though small, can make a big difference.
It is a source of immense satisfaction, not just for Clear Workspace but for our customers too, that such goods are not only saved from landfill but are also given to some of the more vulnerable in societies and communities at home and abroad.
If assets that have been condemned to disposal are found to possess some value, then Clear Workspace will be in touch. Part of Clear Workspace’s service is asset purchasing, which not only puts some money into the pockets of our customers, but also prevents items that still retain value being prevented from ending up landfill.
Items that are purchased by Clear Workspace include office chairs, desks, storage units, ultra-high-end chairs, bench desks, pedestals and sofas. The asset purchasing programme operated by Clear Workspace has proven a hugely successful enterprise with our customers, benefiting everybody (as well as the planet).
Ethical Office Clearance
Over the last few years, consumers have become more vocal in a number of areas, demanding of the businesses with which they engage a set of ethical principles, from eco-friendly products or services to diversity and inclusion. Some organisations respond by taking these calls seriously, and enacting them in their business practices; others are content to paper over the cracks, to say the right things but fail to follow them up with real action.
For Clear Workspace, a commitment to the environment is more than just a platitude, or a means of paying lip service to consumer demands. It is instead a keystone of our ethics and culture, and an honest reflection of our desire to undertake office clearance in a way that is sustainable. For Clear Workspace, ethical office clearance is not something added on to our existing mode of operating – it is simply a moral stance that any clearance firm operating in twenty-first century must take.