IT is a regular occurrence at education sites that you find a store cupboard that is filled with old assets no longer in use. This can range from old paperwork, equipment, furniture, learning tools, the list goes on. It can be very easy to place these items in temporary storage for a later date, only to forget they are there until the cupboard is full of items you don’t recognise. Clearing out your unused and unwanted assets can be a difficult task, and doing so in an environmentally safe way can present even more complications. As asset management specialists, we know how to help make this process smoother and more simple. Business Moves Group is committed to sustainability; it is at the forefront of everything we do. As a leading provider of reuse, recycling and resource recovery solutions, our aim with every project is to avoid landfill as much as possible, if not completely.

Earlier this year, we worked in partnership with Newcastle College, the state-of-the-art education facility in Newcastle city centre offering education courses. BMG worked closely with the college to create the most sustainable and commercially viable solution for the clearance of redundant furniture and equipment within the old Van Hee building. The team used various solutions to clear every single item from the building, saving Newcastle College an incredible 70% of the forecasted costs to dispose of the items. Here are some of the methods we deployed that other education sites can consider when clearing their estates.

Online auction: After completing a full audit review of the unwanted assets, you can start to decipher which pieces are still in good condition and can therefore be rehomed. This can be done in two ways, the first of which is through reselling. Online auctions are a great method and help get the best deals on your assets. One of the reasons BMG was able to offer Newcastle College a high level of guaranteed rebate was because of the strong relationship we have with our auction service providers. A detailed marketing campaign was put together for all the redundant assets including catering equipment, gym equipment, fridges and display units, laboratory items, and canteen furniture. The result was extremely successful, with BMG selling 210 items on behalf of the college. The auction meant the items were given a new lease of life, benefitting the smaller, local businesses that bought them and reducing the carbon footprint of the college. The result of avoiding recycling these items saved Newcastle College approximately £10,500 in recycling charges.

Charity donations: The second option for the redistribution of unwanted items is through donations to charity partners. Following the success of the auction, the remaining items from the college were advertised to charities and social enterprises. Ninety items were donated to various charity partners, keeping costs low and carbon emissions to a minimum, while also contributing to the college's social value commitments. Recycling: The final approach is to recycle and dispose of the leftover items that could not be distributed to charities. All the remaining pieces of furniture and equipment from the college were transported to BMG’s recycling partner to be broken down into their component form and then categorised into recycling or energy recovery options. This resulted in 98% of the remaining items being diverted from landfill. All these disposal options are accessible for education estate teams and should be utilised as the new standard.

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