26/JLY/2010
Hundreds of tons of office furniture, destined for landfill has been saved, thanks to an innovative new recycling scheme
WorkBack, a charity based in Grangemouth, is taking broken, old or out-of-date office equipment and renovating it for resale, to prevent the waste from going to landfill and creating good quality, affordable furniture.
In just 12 months the scheme, part of Grangemouth Enterprise Limited and backed by Falkirk Council, has prevented 263 tons of office furniture going to landfill, generated sales of £100,000 and provided jobs for 30 trainees.
WorkBack collects furniture from offices that are closing down and takes donations from businesses updating their furniture. The team then get to work, transforming the old into new, quality furniture and recycle all the parts they don't use.
For example office chairs, which if not resold, are recycled with foam padding sent to a mattress recycling company, metal to the scrap yard and wood sent to be chipped and used for flooring. Only the cloth isn't currently recyclable, but they're working on that and hope to secure a company to reuse that too.
Notes to editors
About ACCO Europe
ACCO Brands Corporation (NYSE: ABD) is one of the largest suppliers of branded office product worldwide. Our products are marketed in over 100 countries. Its industry-leading brands include Wilson Jones®, Day-Timer®, Swingline®, Kensington®, Quartet®, GBC®, and in Europe Rexel®, NOBO®, and Derwent®, amongst others.