North Ayrshire Council is encouraging staff to redistribute and reuse surplus items of furniture and equipment in a bid to save money, tackle climate change and reduce unnecessary waste.
Named ‘Warp It’, the Council have been members of the online furniture and resource redistribution network since 2015.
Since then, it has helped to save more than 58,000 kgs of carbon dioxide, avoided more than 22,300 kgs of waste being disposed of, and saved more than £83,000 in procurement and disposal costs.
All part of the ongoing effort to significantly reduce the amount of waste that is sent for final disposal, the online procurement portal allows registered users to upload, swap and claim unwanted furniture items such as chairs, desks, cupboards and drawers. It also used for distributing surplus stationery and ink jet cartridges.
Similar to an online marketplace, Council officers and those working in the Health and Social Care Partnership can register to donate or loan furniture to other areas in need.
Programme Manager of the EQUAL employability programme Linda Ford, has recently benefitted. She shares: “Warp It has been a brilliant resource for us to successfully procure unused furniture items for our employability annexe at the Trinity Church.
“The system is really user-friendly and has helped us to track down a host of soft furnishings, desks, cabinets and tables from the University of Glasgow who have also claimed items from the Council in the past.
“We have also utilised other items such as a donated set of bookcases from a local library and further tables and chairs from the closure of James McFarlane School in Ardrossan.
“Being sustainable is something that is really important to us as it allows us to keep funding for costs associated with improving and developing our employability programme, rather than spending it on procurement costs. So Warp It really has been a win-win!“It feels good to be able to do our part for the environment in this way and secure items in a cost-effective manner, particularly with the challenges the Council -and many other organisations – are currently faced with due to the current Cost-of-Living crisis.”
Linda Ford, EQUAL Programme Manager
Warp It has been utilised as it:
- Reduces waste and unnecessary procurement
- Saves on purchasing and waste disposal costs
- Helps with building clearances
- Reduces supply chain waste and carbon emissions
- Improves collaboration without the need for site visits and time spent on re-allocating items elsewhere.
To find out more about Warp It, visit the website: https://www.warp-it.co.uk/howitworks, or visit the Warp It webpage on Connects.
If you are a North Ayrshire resident and are looking for more information on how you can do your part to tackle climate change, visit the Council’s Recycling webpage.
“Being sustainable is something that is really important to us as it allows us to keep funding for costs associated with improving and developing our employability programme, rather than spending it on procurement costs.
“It feels good to be able to do our part for the environment in this way and secure items in a cost-effective manner, particularly with the challenges the Council -and many other organisations – are currently faced with due to the current Cost-of-Living crisis.”
Warp It project lead, Robert Robb commented: “Tackling climate change is something that we as a Council take really seriously and we are already taking the swift and necessary action required to meet our goal of becoming a net zero local authority by 2030.
“Linda’s team is a great example of how we can play our part to reduce carbon emissions at a local level.
“Becoming members of the Warp It portal is just one of the many carbon neutral approaches the Council has taken to do just this and I would consider other teams to get on board and use it too.
“If items across our services are no longer required, we are encouraging staff to register them on Warp It. Items such as tables, pedestals, cabinets and office chairs can then be listed, loaned or passed on to other departments and partner organisations, including local charities and social enterprises in need.”
Look out in News In Brief next month for news of an upcoming Eco Awareness event for staff.
Due to be hosted at Cunninghame House on the 10 May, our Waste Awareness team will be teaming up with Community Facilities and Active Travel to raise awareness of other carbon-cutting approaches and things we can do to make a positive impact to reduce the effects of climate change in North Ayrshire.
This lunchtime learning event will also provide anyone interested in finding out more about Warp It with a demo on how the portal works, what it can do and how to sign up.
To find out more, visit the ‘Reuse office equipment (Warp It)’ webpage on Connects.
Please note: equipment procured through IT should be disposed of using the IT device disposal process.