Commercial Case Studies

Some of the team after finishing at the television centre

Environmental Results

Carbon dioxide saved through reuse: 481.6 Tonnes
Items reused as % of total weight cleared: 53.4%
Materials recycled as % of total weight cleared: 24.7%
Materials incinerated as waste-to-energy as % of total weight cleared: 21.9%
Materials landfilled by % of total weight cleared: ZERO
Total weight of materials cleared from the site: 206.4 Tonnes

Introduction

Clearance Solutions Ltd won the tender to undertake the clearance of East Tower and the Drama Building at Television Centre.

The brief was to achieve a highly environmentally and socially responsible solution. Special emphasis was placed on achieving a high rate of reuse for the furniture, with charities and good causes receiving donations. In addition we offered to produce a report for the BBC, detailing the reuse and recycle rates we achieved during the project, and the carbon dioxide ‘saved’ as a result.

The site consisted of offices, studio areas, seminar rooms, reception areas, workshops, storage areas and utility rooms. In total over 200 tonnes of furniture and bulky waste was cleared.
The challenge was to achieve a high level of reuse with furniture that had very little economic value, This was mainly due to the vast majority of the furniture being between 10-15 years old. It was therefore hard to place in the second hand market.

Reporting

In order to provide an accurate report of the results, we made an inventory of all the items, and weighed an example of each of the various types of furniture and bulky waste items on site. By monitoring the destination of the items cleared, we were able to calculate the results.

Clearance Solutions Ltd won the tender to clear Hertfordshire University’s (HU) Law faculty in St Albans of all the remaining contents after they moved out to a new building.

The brief was to achieve a highly environmentally responsible solution, with special emphasis placed on achieving a high rate of reuse for the contents, which mainly consisted of furniture and other bulky waste items. In addition we offered to produce a report for HU, detailing the reuse and recycle rates we achieved during the project, and the carbon dioxide ‘saved’ as a result.

The site consisted of offices, a large library, seminar rooms, a canteen, lecture theatres, reception areas and utility rooms. In total 29 tonnes of furniture and bulky waste was cleared from the site.

The challenge was achieve a high level of reuse with furniture that had very little economic value. This was because the furniture was originally inexpensive and between 7-15 years old. It was also on the whole reasonably ‘tired’.

The combination of reuse and on site waste stream separation and management resulted in a highly ‘green’ clearance. Due to Clearance Solutions Ltd relationships with a wide range of used furniture resellers, we secured a high level of reuse in spite of the low value of the furniture. This demonstrates the environmental benefits that can be achieved through a reuse orientated approach.

Clearance and recycling of furniture, rubbish, IT and WEEE Purchase of resaleable furniture and IT

Due to relocation, Ashford Solicitors moved out of their 90 person office in Baker Street. They only relocated some of their IT and filing – leaving the bulk of furniture and IT. We bought approximately 40% of the remaining furniture and most of the IT as it had a resale value. We cleared and recycled the rest of the furniture, IT, WEEE and general waste. All the work was completed over a weekend.