Office Chair Recycling

The process for recycling office chairs varies because there are so many different types. Before we get the chair prepped for recycling it will be inspected to see if it is reusable or able to be donated. Unfortunately, due to the economy the resale market has been inundated with office chairs. So only a relatively new office chair is considered reusable. Non-profits are very picky about office chairs as well. They have a hard time moving that kind of inventory, so most of the time they will not take them for donation.

As mentioned earlier, recycling office chairs is all over the place. That is because they are all so different.Some are made out one material while others are a mix. It’s great when they are made entirely out of metal. If that is the case they will be crushed, bailed, and sent straight to the smelter.

If there is a mix of plastic and metal our workers will segregate the two. The plastic will go into the plastic bin for bailing and smelting. The metal will go through the same process.

Office chairs with wood will be broken down. The wood type will be determined "compressed" or "real wood". If it is "real wood" there is a potential it can be reused or made into a mulch. The "compressed" wood will go to waste to energy or be mulched for landfill cover.

Any textiles (fabric) that exist will be stripped from the chair and sent to a waste to energy plant. There it will be incinerated and the energy created will be converted into electricity for the local power grid.

As one can only imagine this takes a lot of work! The good things is E-Cycle has a lot of big moving equipment and tools that expedite this process immensely.

If you have any other questions on how your office chair will handled during the recycling process feel free to call us at 1-800-865-9137!