Food for Thought: Embracing the Circular Economy in Facilities Management: A National Recycling Day Exercise

November 15th is National Recycling Day! The practice of “recycling” is pretty familiar as a key component of sustainable living, but what do we really know about it in practice? We thought maybe our readers would enjoy a bit of historical context and some fun facts that even we found surprising, as we dissect the significance of recycling in the circular economy.  

Now before you scroll away thinking that this is all about recycling your newspapers or taking soda cans to redemption centers for the nickel deposit, let’s have a look at some basic principles in recycling that have applications to both household consumers, and our readers in facilities management.   

Despite increased interest in those sustainable principles that will hopefully ensure the health of the planet, it is sometimes a head scratcher to figure out what we can actually do in our daily lives.  In researching this article, we discovered some interesting trivia and important facts about recycling that can guide us toward achieving our ambitious goals.  

Recycling 101 

We began by testing our own recycling knowledge, turning to our friends at Keep America Beautiful to take their American Recycles Day Quiz.  We challenge you to take it too and test your knowledge!  (For example, who knew about the infinite recyclability of aluminum!?)  

And recycling is not new, nor has it always been practiced for the good of the planet!   

For that we headed to the Busch System blog for some wonderful “Wow! Cool Facts” on the history of recycling.  (Busch System makes the big recycling bins we see all over, so they might be an authority on the subject!)  

There we discovered that early adoptions of recycling was even seen as a way to MAKE money!  In the early 1900s the slogan for recycling was “Waste as Wealth”, as recycling proponents championed the idea of sorting and selling discarded items from trash for a profit – we might say that these were some of the first glimmers of the “circular economy” in practice.    

Busch’s brief history contains lots of other surprising bits of trivia about recycling:   

• The first “bottle bill” including those nickel incentives for recycling bottles and cans was passed in 1971 in Oregon and  

• University City in Missouri instituted the first Curbside Recycling in the US 1974.   

Does recycling really make a difference?  

So recycling has got the whole problem licked, right?  Well not quite.   

In a post by a municipal site in St. Charles County, Missouri, we learned that despite all the communication about the importance of recycling as much as about 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is only 28%.  

Further: Americans discard enough glass bottles each month to fill a skyscraper, even though glass is 95+% recyclable. 

Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees that can absorb carbon dioxide, save thousands of kilowatts of energy, and reduce landfill space. But we still don’t seem to be able to put it into practice.   

The impact of each household recycling is measurable, and can, in aggregate, be cumulatively big. Our challenge is to keep communicating and change people’s behavior through shared knowledge!  

Where does recycling fit for facilities managers? 

Given the substantial challenges it is important in recycling to start with a goal that is achievable.  A very pragmatic target for facilities managers to tackle in recycling is the furniture that makes up such a large component of any office build-out and occupancy.   

The two sides of the circular furniture equation can be classified as follows: 

• liquidation of assets no longer needed in a facility and  

• acquisition of new furniture items when an existing space is being reconfigured or a newly leased space is being built out. 

In both cases there are best practices for facilities management in which recycling can play a practical part.  

Let’s take the decommissioning and liquidation example:   

When a tenant vacates a leased premise and moves to another, and these days often smaller space, inevitably there is an inventory of furniture that has outlived its useful life.  It may be old, tired or in some cases not functional or just the wrong dimensional configuration to serve the new workplace design.   

In this case, the variations of recycling are core to our business at TFX. They are: 

• Upcycling: Repurposing items that have potential for new life in what might otherwise be discarded. For instance, reclaiming wood from old desks and using it in restored configurations is a powerful way to add value to what’s often viewed as waste. 

• Refurbishing: Restoring used items to “as-new” quality, thus extending their useful life significantly, is a remanufacturing process we actually manage using our in-house expertise at TFX.  Think of it as reinvesting in current assets for reuse rather than replacing or disposing of them. 

• Sustainable recycling: Once we have reduced all the components parts and elements of furniture that cannot be donated, restored, remanufactured or reused, at TFX we responsibly dispose of what is left, with a 90+% target for diversion from landfill.  

Now let’s look at the role of recycling in the acquisition of new items: 

New inventory does not, and should not, necessarily mean “new”.  On the contrary, in the circular economy the rule of thumb is to reuse (recycle) whatever can fill a need so as to avoid waste.  

What does that mean pragmatically to the facilities manager? First and foremost, you need a resource who can reliably fill your orders for needed inventory of chairs, desks, cubicles, etc., restored to your corporate standards, with warranties comparable to those of original manufacturers.  That’s what we do every day for our TFX clients—reselling items at substantial savings compared to buying new! 

Now that we know all about recycling, what’s next?   

Our celebration of the circular implications of recycling should extend well beyond National Recycling Day.  We would encourage you to take the Keep America Beautiful quiz and check out other resources to learn all you can about the hidden facts about recycling.  

Once you have a context for considering recycling in facilities management think about TFX for the following: 

• Partnering with decommissioning experts.  We can facilitate pragmatic recycling practices that prioritize landfill diversion and offer refurbishment options, for optimal furniture reuse opportunities. 

• Incorporate donation and resale strategies.  Think of us as partners to extend the useful life of assets you own, for your own organization and for others. 

• Educate teams on circular practices.  We are happy to share how you can apply tactics like upcycling, and remanufacturing to your day-to-day FM practices.  Let us be your partners, ensuring everyone on the tenant and property management sides of your businesses understand the benefits that circular principles behind recycling contribute to sustainability goals. 

Let’s Embrace Circularity together! Contact us at inquiry@tfxfurniture.com to discuss how our recycling and sustainable furniture management services can help meet your FM challenges.  We stand ready to help integrate circular economy principles into your operations, helping you and the companies you serve make a positive environmental impact.