Devon County Council Corporate Policy for the Reuse & Repair of Assets

PURPOSE

This document sets out Devon County Council’s policy on the reuse and repair of assets.
Now, more than ever, it is important to get maximum value from our assets. Raw materials, resources and funds are becoming more limited. With the need for a more circular economy to preserve resources, the Authority needs to extend the lifetime of assets by redistribution and/or repair.

This document highlights activities within the Authority where consideration of reuse and repair is required.

SCOPE

This policy covers the whole of the Authority’s estate and activities such as furniture, electrical equipment, supplies and consumables.

Reuse and repair can take place within day-to-day operations across the Authority and during special activities when surplus assets are generated, such as building decommissioning.

THE CASE FOR REUSE

The drive for reuse and repair of assets is financial, environmental, and social.

Financial

• Reuse and repair can actively contribute to the Authority’s Financial Sustainability Programme. Reusing assets internally can:
– stop or delay the purchase of new assets, reducing the cost of procurement and
– reduce the cost of waste management

• Assets that cannot be reused internally can be passed to partner organisations such as other Local Authorities, educational establishments, and 3rd sector organisations. When we reuse assets in the community, we can magnify our impact. For example:
– 1 donated desk yields £6 in revenue for charity (Source: WARPIt)
– every 2 tonnes donated into the 3rd sector creates 1 job (Source: WARPIt)

Social

• Creating a sharing economy by reusing assets between organisations can strengthen relationships with other key organisations and our local communities.

• By actively reusing and repairing, the Authority will be modelling the behaviour we need to see across all sectors of society to build a circular economy.

Environmental

• There is a huge amount of embedded carbon in the products we buy, and we will not reach Net Zero targets without tackling how we make and consume products. We need a rapid transition from the linear ‘take, make, dispose’ industrial model to a new circular economy. According to WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) 45% of global emissions can only be tackled by changing the way we make and consume products (including food). This is a core part of the Economy and Resources section of the Devon Carbon Plan.

• The Authority’s Environmental Policy states that Devon County Council will:

Ensure its activities minimise waste and the consumption of single-use plastics by encouraging and enabling staff and suppliers to design-out waste and reuse resources.

Contribute to creating a circular economy by recycling & composting and where appropriate specifying second-hand goods or recycled materials.

PROGRESS TO DATE

Reuse often happens within the workplace without necessarily being recorded e.g.: the reuse of an A4 folder or other small items from a stationery store cupboard. It is hard to quantify all reuse across DCC premises and activities, but there are several projects that highlight larger scale reuse within the corporate estate and are detailed below:

Furniture Reuse

The Corporate Estates Team have a good track record of reusing furniture. Since 2010 the cumulative impact of this work is significant and financial savings are estimated to have exceeded £1 million for DCC and our communities. However, the financial savings are just one aspect of the savings; 8,960 items with an approx. weight of 200 tonnes have been kept out of landfill sites, helping to reduce Devon’s environmental impact, and saving vital raw resources.

Devon Device Replacement Programme

DCC corporate laptops, tablets and desktop devices are due to be replaced by 2024. A specialist contractor has been appointed to supply all hardware to DCC and to repurpose and recycle the old devices:

• Old devices in good working order will be repurposed by DCC’s IT hardware service partner to use elsewhere in DCC, when needed, during the device refresh programme.
• Approximately 1,000 devices will be repurposed for educational purposes by Devon Schools.
• Devices not suitable for reuse (due to age, fair wear, and tear, faulty) will be securely recycled.
• The Device Replacement Programme is working with the Recycle@work project to communicate the reuse and recycling elements of the project to staff.

Refill Campaign

In 2018/2019 as part of the council’s drive to reduce single use plastics on DCC premises, a ban on disposable plastic cups was brought in along with a refill promotion for both hot drinks and water. As part of this campaign Devon Norse introduced a reusable ‘Keep Cup’ and estimated that over 80% of take away hot drinks were in reusable cups after the campaign.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NEXT?

More needs to be done to drive change and support the authority’s work to become Net Zero.

Guidance

Clear guidance and procedures need to be put in place so that staff understand what and when an item can be reused internally, and when an item can be sold or donated to organisations such as charities, schools, or SMEs. Clear guidance is also required on when it is appropriate for items to be made available to staff.,

Supporting and promoting a culture of reuse & repair

Many of the decisions about purchasing and/or reuse of furniture and equipment are made by team managers. Because of this the key to success will be to encourage a culture of reuse and repair among staff. This can be achieved with the following:

• Proactive support and promotion of reuse policies by Senior Management

• Creation of a series of articles in Insider promoting the reuse and repair policies and linking to relevant guidance on the staff intranet.

• Actively promote reuse and repair across the authority by celebrating successes by staff.

• Encouraging staff to use the existing online staff swap noticeboard

• Encourage departments to create a reuse area to hold items temporarily e.g.: a reuse table or cupboard.

• Holding events such as an onsite repair café, swap it or swishing (clothes) event for staff.

The Policy Statements are laid out below and Appendix 1 lays out the actions required across the authority to enable the Policy to be implemented thereby supporting an increase in reuse and repair across the authority’s activities.

THE POLICY

The Policy is made up of the statements:

Appendix 1 – Policy Statements & Actions for reuse and repair of office furniture and other assets