Achieving a Sustainable Office: 3 Easy Steps to Reduce Your Office’s Carbon Footprint

Ida Gorecka • February 13, 2025

Did you know buildings, including offices, are responsible for nearly 40% of global energy-related carbon emissions? Many businesses don’t realise that office furniture is a big part of that problem. 


Consumers are noticing too: 85% prefer eco-conscious brands, and 34% are willing to pay more for sustainable products (source). If you’re not thinking about sustainability, you are falling behind.


But contrary to what most businesses assume, creating a sustainable office doesn’t mean a huge overhaul or extra costs. In fact, it can save you lots of money. At Coggin SOS, we’ve helped hundreds of businesses go green and we can help you too. Here are three easy steps to help you save both money and carbon emissions on your next office furniture project.

The Shocking Carbon Cost of New Office Furniture: What You Need to Know

Look around your office for a moment. Every desk, chair, and cabinet you see has a carbon footprint bigger than you realise. While most businesses focus on energy bills and paper waste when thinking about their environmental impact, office furniture often gets overlooked. 


Let's break it down:


Manufacturing

A single new office chair creates around 82kg of carbon - that's like driving 200 miles. But it doesn't stop there. The raw materials for that chair travel between multiple factories, each step adding more emissions. Steel gets shipped from one country, plastic from another, fabric from a third. 


Shipping

Most office furniture has to travel a long way before it reaches your office. Just getting a desk chair to you can create a lot of carbon emissions. Between container ships, freight, and multiple stops along the way, the carbon footprint adds up fast, even before it arrives.


Looking for local, sustainable solutions? Contact us to reduce the carbon footprint of your office furniture while still getting top-quality pieces.


Disposal

In the UK alone 300 tonnes of office furniture enters landfill every day. Much of this furniture is still perfectly usable - it might just need some care or updating. As this furniture breaks down in landfill, it releases methane - a greenhouse gas that traps more heat than CO2. Then the cycle starts again as businesses buy new furniture to replace what they've thrown away.


Find out more about where your waste actually goes.


But, you don't have to participate in this carbon-heavy cycle. Your office furniture choices can cut both emissions and costs. The three Rs - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - offer practical ways to make this happen. Let's look at exactly how each one works…

1. Reduce: Smart Choices with Lower Local Impact

Want to save money, time and cut your carbon footprint at the same time? Start by thinking about how you buy office furniture. A new office chair releases around 82kg of carbon. Multiply that across your office, and you're looking at a serious environmental issue before anyone sits down.


Most office furniture starts overseas. Remember that journey we talked about? Raw materials get shipped between factories, parts are made in different places, and everything crosses oceans. All those steps increase the carbon footprint and slow down delivery.


At Coggin SOS, we skip the carbon chain by keeping things local. Instead of importing new furniture, we source high-quality, pre-owned pieces from UK businesses. Brands like Herman Miller and Steelcase last for decades, so why send them to the landfill? By refurbishing them locally, we cut emissions from both manufacturing and long-haul shipping while giving you the same quality furniture at a fraction of the price.


What’s in it for you:



  • Faster delivery - we deliver in 10 days or less, while new furniture takes 8-12 weeks
  • Lower carbon footprint - local sourcing and refurbishing, no global supply chain
  • Big savings - high-quality furniture at a fraction of the cost of new


Skip the carbon-heavy supply chain. Contact our team at Coggin SOS to source local, quality second-hand office furniture for up to 80% less compared to buying new.


Wondering if refurbished furniture is the right choice for you? Here’s what you need to know before making the switch!

2. Reuse: Keeping Quality Office Furniture in Circulation

Every year, tons of perfectly good office chairs, desks, and storage units are thrown away-not because they’re completely broken and unusable, but because they look a little worn. That’s money wasted, resources lost, and landfill space filled up unnecessarily. Meanwhile, businesses spend a fortune replacing furniture that could easily be restored to as-new condition.


At Coggin SOS, we offer two valuable options for you to make a smarter, more sustainable choice. 


1. Refurbish Your Existing Office Furniture

We can restore your current office furniture to like-new condition, from reupholstering chairs matching your brand colours to refinishing and resizing desks for the perfect fit for your space. This extends the life of your furniture by decades, saving you the cost and carbon impact that come with buying new.


2. Replace Your Office Furniture 

We also offer high-quality, second-hand office furniture that is expertly refurbished and ready to go in just 10 days. For up to 80% less compared to buying new! Plus, every piece comes with a 12-month warranty, so you can be sure you’re getting high-quality, lasting value.

3. Recycle: Your Simple Solution to Office Furniture Waste

Not all office furniture can be refurbished, but that doesn’t mean it should go straight to landfill. At Coggin SOS, we make sure your old office furniture is recycled properly, turning it into valuable materials instead of contributing to landfill waste. We handle everything. Metals get turned into raw materials for new products, while plastics and foam are sorted and repurposed.


Here’s why that matters for you: Businesses are under increasing pressure to prove they’re taking measured environmental action. We make it easy by providing you with savings reports and certificates that show exactly how your recycling efforts make a difference. These reports help you:


  • Demonstrate genuine sustainability to stakeholders
  • Secure green contracts that prioritise environmental responsibility
  • Meet ESG reporting standards
  • Ensure you’re compliant with waste regulations


Get in touch with us today to see how we can help recycle your old office furniture responsibly.

Save Money, Cut Carbon: Your Sustainable Office Starts Here

You're in business to make money, not to spend it on new office furniture every few years. But you also know that sustainability matters - to your clients, your investors, and your own conscience. You don't have to choose between your budget and your environmental goals.


At Coggin SOS, we offer solutions that tick all the boxes. So why spend more time and money on new furniture that just adds to your carbon footprint? Make the smart choice for your business and the planet. 


Get in touch with Coggin SOS today and let us show you how easy and cost-effective eco-friendly office furniture can be. Because the future of business is sustainable. The question is, will you lead the charge, or be left picking up the pieces? It's your move. Make it a good one.

Why Buying Cheap Costs More: The Long-Term Value of Quality Refurbished Furniture

By Ida Gorecka • July 30, 2025
You’re in the middle of planning an office space. Budgets are tight. Lead times are short. It’s tempting to type “cheap office chairs” into your browser and find something that fits the spreadsheet. But here’s the problem: cheap furniture is rarely cheap in the long run . The market is saturated with budget desks, chairs, and storage that look good online, but fall apart in practice. And when they do, they cost more - more to replace, more to dispose of, more to fix (if that’s even possible), and more in lost time and productivity. It’s a vicious cycle that undermines your budget, timeline, and any potential ESG goals. According to WRAP , the UK disposes of over 200,000 tonnes of office furniture every year - much of it barely used. When furniture fails quickly, so does your investment. In a commercial setting, that failure shows up in missed deadlines, spiralling budgets, and sustainability goals slipping out of reach. So before you hit "order" on another bulk buy of flat-packed furniture, take a moment. In this article, you'll learn the hidden costs of cheap office furniture and why refurbished premium office furniture is the smarter alternative. If you're looking to reduce hassle, save money, and build a workspace that actually lasts, keep on reading. Need help getting started? Get in touch with our team for advice, audits, or to browse our refurbished stock .

Refurbished Office Furniture Saves Overbury Over £2000 on Site Setup Costs

By Ida Gorecka • July 18, 2025
Anyone who's worked in construction knows that site setup costs can quickly spiral. For Overbury , one of the UK's leading fit-out and refurbishment specialists, managing these costs while maintaining professional standards is a constant balancing act. When setting up their latest construction site office, they faced a challenge familiar to many in the industry: creating a functional workspace quickly and cost-effectively. After seeing what we achieved together on their previous project, Overbury approached us with clear priorities - they needed a professional office setup delivered on a construction timeline. With tight deadlines to meet and costs to manage, they needed their office space ready quickly while avoiding the expense and environmental impact of buying new office furniture. Like many construction projects, this one came with complex requirements - specific layouts, tight timelines, and budget constraints - yet Overbury knew from experience that refurbished office furniture could deliver exactly what they needed.

From Purchase to Repurpose: How to Extend the Lifespan of Your Office Furniture

By Ida Gorecka • July 16, 2025
If you're managing an office move, refit, or hybrid transition, you've likely faced this question: do we buy new furniture, or make use of what we have? Every year, over 1.2 million desks and 1.8 million office chairs are sent to landfill in the UK- enough to fill Wembley Stadium twice. ( Source: WRAP ) With Landfill Tax raised to £126.15 per tonne in April 2025 (S ource: UK Government ), the cost of disposing office furniture is increasing fast. If you’re trying to balance budgets , meet ESG goals , and minimise downtime , choosing refurbishment over replacement could be the most strategic decision you make this year. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get more from what you already own. Saving thousands, supporting your ESG goals, and creating a more flexible, future-proof workspace. Got a project coming up? Get in touch and we’ll help you explore your refurbishment options.