We all need office furniture but what happens when we have unwanted office furniture like an old office chair to get rid of?
Office chairs are made of many different materials that can be difficult to separate when the chair reaches the end of its life. It's not a very cost-effective process, which is why there aren't many places to recycle office chairs. You can always take apart the chair yourself and recycle some components. Or, if your chair is in serviceable condition, you can find someone who wants to use it for their home office or workplace.
Firstly, we should note that it is entirely possible to recycle an old office chair and that means that you should be able to turn your office chair into something else of value.
In fact, if your old office chair is made of large amounts of metal – one thing that you can do is talk to a scrap metal dealer. You can sell office furniture to these dealers and they strip the old office chairs down and remove all the metal.
However, they’re not a recycling center and all the other parts of your old office chairs are likely to be sent to a landfill. The wood used in most chairs, to be fair, is often not able to be recycled as the “wood” tends to be chipboard.
If you contact specialist recycling companies, on the other hand, they may be able to recycle some of the materials in your old office chairs too. But you won’t get any money for your old office chair – the company will simply take it off your hands.
You may also be able to leave an office chair out for your local junk removal service or government collection scheme as many of these services now attempt to recycle any chairs, desks, etc. that they receive.
Who recycle old office furniture:
It depends on where you live, the best option is to Google for a place that recycles office chairs in your neighborhood. If you can’t find anything that way, you might try contacting furniture stores near you or a local mattress recycler to see if they can help or you could call the helpline for E-cycle Environmental and they can try and point you in the right direction to recycle your office chair.
Sell or donate old office chairs
Assuming your office chair is still in good shape, you can probably find a way to reuse it. There are lots of companies that will purchase used office equipment (including office chairs). Nationwide Office Liquidators, South Coast Auction in California and Office Furniture NYC are a few examples. Some of them sell office furniture as well. Check them out the next time you are in the market for an office chair or any other type of office furniture. If you work for a large institution such as a university, find out if they have an office equipment recycling and reuse program. Many of them will take people’s unwanted office furniture and get it to people who are looking for new items. Some thrift stores will take office chairs that are in good shape, but others find them difficult to sell and will turn them down. Check with your favorite local thrift store to find out their policy.
How to reuse office chairs
Keep in mind that you may be able to reuse your old office chair in a creative way. If the only problem with the chair is that the covering is worn (or boring), consider reupholstering it. Several people have turned old office chairs into cat toys or cat beds. If the whole chair cannot be salvaged, see if you can repurpose some of the components around the house.
It’s a good thing to recycle, but it’s always better to reuse something. If your chair is truly useless, then by all means get it recycled. It is also a good choice to buy a new most comfortable ergonomic chair in Mychairs.