Closing the loop on waste means that we need to reduce the amount of materials we discard. In 2022-23, over 1,600 pieces of furniture were reused on campus eliminating 72,139 kg of waste from being sent to landfill. This avoided over $1M in cost for the University of Ottawa last year.

The Furniture Reuse Program (FRP) provides the University of Ottawa community with access to used furniture for free by reusing and recycling surplus on campus. We facilitate the redistribution of the furniture that uOttawa Faculties and Services no longer need to others on campus. This helps reduce landfill and recycling costs.

Most of the surplus we receive can be described as either office furniture (chairs, desks, tables, or filing cabinets) or lab furniture (lab tables, shelves, or chairs).

Procedure for donating furniture

  • If you, as a campus community member, no longer need a piece of furniture or equipment, make a furniture removal request (2222) via the Project Manager if the furniture is being removed as part of a construction/renovation project. If it is not part of a project, please make your request through your Building Manager.
  • We visually assess the furniture to make sure that it meets the program’s size and safety standards. If the furniture is suitable, it is tagged for storage and sent to our warehouse. If unsuitable, it is tagged for recycling.
  • Once it arrives at the warehouse, the furniture is sorted and stored. Broken or unwanted items are disassembled and their components are recycled.

*Important – We are not responsible for the condition of furniture once it has been sent to 1000 Belfast. The FRP is not a storage service: there is no guarantee that you can recover furniture once it has been brought to our warehouse.

Procedure for obtaining furniture

When uOttawa community members are in need of furniture items, they can make a 2222 to schedule a visit to the warehouse. 

What we do with the rest

Items that are not selected after a certain time period are offered to external community members, including employees, uOttawa groups, students, and Ottawa-based charities and schools, or are broken down into components and recycled.

If you have any suggestions or questions about the program, please contact 2222 for more details.

Information Icon

Our surplus newsletter is now available!

If you would like to receive our newsletter about some of the items available at our furniture warehouse, please send us message and we will add you to our mailing list!
[email protected]