What is Recycled Office Furniture?

As a consumer, you have several options available to you when selecting office furniture. Here's a brief des-cription of the different types of product on the market:

Recycled Office Furniture
Recycled office furniture is a term often used for any post-consumer office furniture that has been diverted out of the solid waste stream and back into the market with or without repairs. This includes refurbished, and re-used (as-is/used) office furniture, both of which are being “used again.”

Refurbished Office Furniture
Refurbished office furniture is recycled office furniture that has had value added to the product. Products are disassembled, parts are inspected, cleaned, repaired or replaced, reassembled and refinished to “like new” conditions, and returned to the market for sale.

Reused Office Furniture
Reused, “used,” or “as-is” office furniture is recycled office furniture that has been returned to the market for sale without repair or improvement to its appearance.

New Office Furniture
New office furniture is new furniture purchased from the original equipment man-ufacturer (OEM) for resale by your company. It is composed entirely of OEM parts. The parts are made mostly of raw materials (natural resources) that have not been used before although some manufacturers' components may have recycled content.