This spring Boston University passed a major milestone.\u00a0 In the past ten years, BU has provided more than 1.5 million pounds of surplus furniture and equipment to charities.<\/p>\n
BU is one of IRN\u2019s original members.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been working together since IRN was founded at the end of 1999.\u00a0 A couple of years later, in 2002, BU asked IRN to help with excess furniture and equipment\u00a0\u2013 all the desks and file cabinets and beds and bureaus and thousands of other items that BU could no longer use.<\/p>\n
At that point, almost all of BU\u2019s surplus was being tossed into its dumpsters, as it had been for decades\u00a0\u2013 and as still happens on most college campuses.\u00a0 That first year, BU collected 10,000 pounds of surplus, not even a single truckload.\u00a0 IRN matched most of it with charities, and recycled the remainder that was unfit for reuse.<\/p>\n
From that beginning, BU\u2019s surplus management program with IRN has grown to the point that, in 2011 alone, the school recovered more than 525,000 pounds of surplus.\u00a0 Currently over 96% of the BU surplus is reused through IRN\u2019s network of charitable partners, and almost all of the rest is recycled for its commodity content.\u00a0 Virtually nothing is landfilled.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the ten-year track record:<\/p>\n
Year\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Surplus Recovered (Lbs)<\/strong><\/p>\n 2002 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 9,800<\/p>\n 2003\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a014,600<\/p>\n 2004\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a018,800<\/p>\n 2005\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 170,300<\/p>\n 2006 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a030,100<\/p>\n 2007\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a083,200<\/p>\n 2008\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 128,300<\/p>\n 2009\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 202,300<\/p>\n 2010\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 342,000<\/p>\n 2011 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 528,000<\/p>\n Ten Year Total \u00a01,527,400<\/strong><\/p>\n Back in 2002, when we started looking into BU\u2019s waste stream we realized that there are two major sources of surplus on campus.\u00a0 The first comes from replacements and cleanouts:\u00a0 replacements when BU purchases new dorm or classroom furniture, cleanouts when the school tears down or renovates.\u00a0 The second consists of surplus that\u2019s generated in small quantities\u00a0every single day:\u00a0 a couple of desks from an administrative office, a few beds or mattresses, two or three filing cabinets, the leftovers when a professor cleans out an office or lab.<\/p>\n Reflecting that pattern, since 2005 BU\u2019s surplus program has had two main tracks.<\/p>\n One works out of a parking lot in Boston\u2019s Back Bay, central to BU\u2019s campus.\u00a0 There we parked two storage trailers.\u00a0 Any time a department gets rid of some surplus, BU\u2019s facilities staff puts the surplus into a trailer instead of the trash.\u00a0 When the trailer is full, IRN cleans it out, takes the surplus to our warehouse, and makes a match with our network of charities.\u00a0 This steady program has kept more than 400,000 pounds of BU surplus out of the trash.<\/p>\n The second track handles large replacements and cleanouts.\u00a0 This surplus has come from many departments on campus; the most active has been BU\u2019s Housing Department.\u00a0 When BU renovates a dorm or buys new furniture, IRN identifies a charity that can use the surplus in relief or development projects.\u00a0 IRN then arranges movers to come on campus and load the old furnishings into trailers (for U.S. charities) or shipping containers (for overseas shipment).\u00a0 Once packed at BU, the trailers are not unsealed until they reach their final destination.\u00a0 This program has provided over a million pounds of furniture and equipment to worldwide charities.<\/p>\n And then there are things like the basketball floor.\u00a0 For 30 years the floor at BU\u2019s Brown Arena hosted the likes of Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski, Reggie Lewis, and Grant Hill.\u00a0 When BU built their new Agganis Arena, they kept the old floor in storage. But eventually they needed the storage space, and the old floor needed to disappear.\u00a0 IRN placed a call to nonprofit partner Food for the Poor, and FFTP identified a school outside of Kingston, Jamaica.\u00a0 The school had a gym but no floor; BU had a floor with no gym.\u00a0 It was a perfect fit.\u00a0 BU packed the floor into two shipping containers, and three weeks later it was installed and being used by school kids in Jamaica.<\/p>\n Jeanne Sevigny is Assistant Director of BU Housing.\u00a0 She says: \u00a0\u201cThis started out as a good idea for recycling our unwanted furniture, but as we became more connected with IRN and their charitable network the social benefits of the program really grabbed our hearts.\u00a0 For those of us in Housing and Sustainability, we could not be more pleased.\u00a0 We are doing the right thing environmentally and socially, and the costs related to this program are far less than disposal \u2013 a real win-win situation all around.\u201d<\/p>\n Given such successes, BU is recognized as a leader nationwide in surplus property management.\u00a0 Mike Lyons of BU\u2019s Purchasing Department sums it up: \u00a0\u201cThe days are long gone of filling dumpsters with materials that could have a second life.\u00a0 It is not just about furniture.\u00a0 It\u2019s about doing the right thing for the environment, the right thing for people, and the right thing for BU.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeanne Sevigny is Assistant Director of BU Housing. She says: \u201cThis started out as a good idea for recycling our unwanted furniture, but as we became more connected with IRN and their charitable network the social benefits of the program really grabbed our hearts. For those of us in Housing and Sustainability, we could not be more pleased. We are doing the right thing environmentally and socially, and the costs related to this program are far less than disposal \u2013 a real win-win situation all around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recycling-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irnsurplus.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}