Saving furniture and the planet with Rheaply
Building the circular economy while diverting furniture, fixtures, and equipment waste from the landfill
Project Facts
Location
United States
Chicago, Illinois
Project Volume
100.000-500.000 EUR
Applied Financing Solutions
Grants, Other
Project Dates
Start: 2021
In operation since/from: 2024
The Story
In 2021, RUSH University Medical Center was in the midst of planning the demolition of one of the older buildings on its west side campus. As staff and departments were decanted out of the building into other fully furnished spaces across the campus, they left behind tons of office furniture. The RUSH team identified more than 27 tons of furniture in the building that totaled an estimated value of nearly $200k. When a building is set to be demolished, the first step is to completely empty the building, which often results in furniture going straight to a landfill. Over the first 6 months, 86 people used Rheaply to divert 19,000 pounds of furniture waste from the landfill to other buildings within the RUSH system. The weight of diverted resources is roughly 38 dumpsters, 6 Honda Civics, or half of an entire mobile home – all saved from landfill. Since then, RUSH has continued to scale their internal reuse efforts leading to more than 1,000 items exchanged, $244k+ in procurement savings, and more than 53k pounds of furniture diverted from the landfill.
Success Factor | Hero Moment
Through data reporting by Rheaply, RUSH was able to notice that office chairs, small desks and small storage solutions were the most sought-after items claimed on the platform. The RUSH Environmental Sustainability team is capturing items that fall under those categories and that are in good condition which would otherwise be thrown away for storage in a Reuse Warehouse. The impact potential here is huge for RUSH -- in fact, one lab manager was able to save more than $6,000 by furnishing a new lab with all used furniture found on Rheaply.
Submitter
Rheaply, United States
Other Involved Stakeholders
RUSH University Medical Center
Contact Mail
info@rheaply.com
Website
www.rheaply.com/resources/case-studies/rush-university/
