Storing and Disposing of College-Owned Items

Storage and De-Accessioning Guidelines for College-Owned Furniture and other Items

Excess material (doors, cabinets, shelving, radiators, etc.) and furniture (chairs, desks, file cabinets, bookcases, etc.) are often removed from active use on campus and brought to storage. These guidelines are intended to address the efficient storage, re-use, donation, recycling, or disposal of these items.

Storage of Items:

Items arrive for storage as a result of a renovation or rearrangement of an office or department. While these items are deemed to be of no immediate use to the department, they are often placed in storage and tagged “save for department X”. This request limits the items reuse and causes the storage to be inefficient. In order to make the storage as efficient as possible, any item that is taken to storage will be made available for any department to use as needed.

Exception:

Occasionally, the furniture in a space must be removed to allow for renovation of the space. This furniture may be stored for a period not longer than the renovation itself. At the end of this period, if the furniture is not re-used, it will fall under the storage guideline stated above.

Disposal of Items:

When a building is renovated, all furniture and other building elements that have the potential for re-use on campus will be placed into storage.

Throughout the year, as furniture is upgraded, small lots of furniture that will not be re-used on campus may be donated directly to 501-C3’s.

If the storage space becomes crowded with items that have little chance of being re-used on campus, the de-accessioning of those items will be handled in the following manner:

  1. Donations will be made to local non-profit agencies (501-C3’s including local schools) that are interested. If there is considerable volume or there are many agencies interested in the items, the order of preference will be determined by lottery.
  2. In the case of a building renovation or removal, employees will be permitted to purchase, for personal use, remaining items. Please note that a small window of time will be given to the campus community for removal of any items from a building slated for renovation or removal. Should desired items not be removed during this timeline, the building will be closed to the public for safety reasons.
  3. Removal of any item MUST be coordinated with the Project Manager assigned to the project.
  4. Prior to the general offering to the campus, nothing can be removed from the building, regardless of whether you are a current stakeholder of the space. Please remember that ALL items (furniture or building elements) are the property of the College.
  5. Any remaining items will be sold to scrap collectors.