Have you ever wondered what happened to your old office chair?
With the recently completed upgrades of offices in San Mateo, Rancho Cordova and Stamford, 100% of the company’s no-longer-needed office furniture was diverted from the landfill, thanks to a partnership between Corporate Real Estate and Green Standards, and this effort will continue with current and future projects around the globe.
We focused on repurposing as much unused furniture as possible, and we were fortunate to find organizations to benefit from donations,”
said Joseph Killian, Director, Real Estate and Facilities at Franklin Templeton.
Additionally, we committed to recycling 100% of the furniture that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill. Sustainability is our responsibility, and we prioritize finding second lives for items or ensuring environmentally conscious disposal of unused assets.
According to 2018 estimates from the US Environmental Protection Agency, up to 8.5 million tons, or 17 billion pounds, of office assets end up in US landfills annually. In an era where sustainability and social responsibility take center stage, the partnership with Green Standards, whose mission is to reuse, recycle and donate used furniture, has helped Franklin Templeton to reduce its environmental footprint and make positive impacts on communities.
As part of the California and Connecticut projects, Green Standards removed furniture from the campuses, diverting 100% of it from landfill. After removal, portions of the furniture were separated into parts. Metal is recycled to create new materials. Wood from desks and worksurfaces is recycled into animal bedding for agricultural use or incorporated into new wood products, such as tables and furniture. Some wood is ground into smaller pieces for alternative city ground cover.
It has been rewarding working on the Stamford 100 project. We reused or recycled 86% of the furniture for the refresh project, resold 12% and donated 2%. I am very proud of the initiative,”
said Jocelyn Rose, Facility Manager for Franklin Templeton at Stamford.