One of the biggest trends in business over the last few years has been the move toward corporate sustainability. Companies in all industries invest in sustainable business practices, publish sustainability reports, and advertise their efforts to investors and customers.
As more businesses strive for sustainability, they commonly ignore the waste they produce by outfitting their office environment. While building a productive environment is nonnegotiable, purchasing new furniture creates unnecessary waste.
On the other hand, buying used office furniture from furniture consignment shops reduces a business’s carbon footprint while saving money. Read on to learn more about how used office furniture supports an environmentally conscious and cost-effective workplace.
Furniture Consignment: a Sustainable Alternative

Starting at the production facility, office furniture inevitably creates waste. Whether that waste comes from deforestation, manufacturing scrap, or overproduction, the bottom line is that new furniture makes a carbon footprint.
Although every piece of office furniture has to get manufactured at some point, used office furniture prevents any incremental carbon footprint. In other words, the used office furniture created a carbon footprint that the original owner assumed, but the subsequent owners create no such waste.
When quality used office furniture sees new life in a new work environment, its useful life gets extended, and the waste it creates effectively gets spread over a longer period before it ends up in a landfill. When businesses purchase used furniture, they and their shareholders can rest assured knowing that the company is doing what it can to be sustainable.
Furniture Consignment: Sustainable and Cost-Effective
Not only is used office furniture sustainable, but it is also much more cost-effective than purchasing new furniture. To clarify, “used office furniture” does not reference old, tired furniture past its prime. Instead, it refers to high-quality furnishings that will support employees for years and years.
That said, such high-quality furniture often demands large amounts of money if you purchase it directly from the manufacturer. However, one of the best-kept secrets in the office furniture industry is that you can purchase like-new furniture for a fraction of its MSRP at furniture consignment shops.
Furniture consignment has high-quality and cost-effective options, from desks to chairs to storage and everything in between. At Commerce Office Furniture (COF), we specialize in providing your business with office furniture that fits your workspace, budget, and sustainability goals. As the premier provider of furniture consignment in Philadelphia, we have everything you need to create a productive work environment for less than you think.
On top of the wide selection of furniture, we also offer free CAD workspace designs to ensure that your workspace turns out the way you envisioned it. To learn more about our incredible selection of furniture consignments in Philadelphia or our services, click here to speak with one of our COF experts. Or, call us any time at (610) 650-9950.