How can we give a second life to the School’s furniture? This is the question we asked ourselves a few years ago. Since then, numerous solutions have emerged.
Across its various campuses, the School has a large number of desks, chairs, cupboards, etc. Over the years, some of them wear out, break, become obsolete, or no longer meet current needs. To avoid throwing away furniture that is still usable, the Real Estate Assets and General Services Department has several options. For several years, it has implemented various solutions, including donating, repairing, transforming, and recycling. First and foremost, the furniture is made available to staff so they can equip their offices according to their needs. This is where the game of musical chairs begins. They can come and take items from stock from a wide selection. The many remaining items of furniture, chairs, and desks are then donated to charities, second-hand shops (La Seconde Main), or craftspeople (Les Doigts de Faë). For example, the Strega workshop transforms old classroom chairs into genuine designer chairs (see the photo above). As for the others, when possible, they are repaired or dismantled to build new desks, for example. Others still go to the School’s FabLab recycling workshop, where students use the materials for their projects. As a last resort, the furniture is sent to a skip at the waste disposal site.
