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We are pleased to welcome Martin Farley, Sustainable Labs Guy at King’s College London, who has kindly helped us explore the topic of their reuse project and the implementation of Warp It.
Let’s begin…
The problem
Seeing rival organisations reap the benefits of an organisational reuse system...
“It happened largely in part due to seeing it work so well within the University of Edinburgh. Of course, it's always good to see something working. Another inspiration was the bar that says how much has been saved on the Warp It website. Being able to see that for UCL as well, at the time, was quite motivational and you could see those figures racking up, it really helped get the impact across in an easy-to-get fashion.”
Getting buy in
If at first you don’t succeed...
“Not everyone was initially sold on Warp it though many were, and we had to do a lot of work to show that it would work. In hindsight it was a great lesson on engagement. But there was a space for sharing, and the team got something amazing in place.”
“To implement Warp it, I was lucky in that a departing manager had some leftover budget. We took the plunge and signed up for 3 years, and started work into setting it up. Once people started sharing though it sold itself, especially as estates offices were undergoing a lot of moves at the time. Staff saw the amount of furniture being purchased and Warp it was a great solution.
Results since April 2016
- More than £150,000 saved on internal claims
- £29,300 saved on admin costs
- 610+ Warp It members
- More than 77% of items claimed are desks, tables, chairs and storage
- Donated £2,600 worth of assets to charity
The challenges
Spatial issues, and objectors in the ranks - two of the most common hurdles...
“One of the biggest challenges was the delivery system that we set up. Because King's College is spread out across five campuses in Central London, we had to set up a system with delivery system with a private porter. Transporting the volume of materials via porters was unreasonable. It was tricky to find a way to allow easy payment, as ease of use really became vital to a successful system.”
“Engagement sessions with staff and subsequent communications really helped get people’s attention. Credit for this goes to the folks who took over Warp it in the KCL Sustainability team, who did some great posters and works to get people noticing the system.
How do you deal with objectors?
“I can remember one story where we were delivering chairs and they didn't go straight into the storage space, they went into a waiting room area. The chairs were sitting next to other chairs, in a corner, and yet declared a fire hazard. Once that happened, I realised the importance of taking time to engage properly. Sit down with people and hear their concerns and address them in a constructive manner. Otherwise they’ll find a way for you to hear them later!”
“Sometimes you need to think from the perspective of every different worker in the chain also. How will a porter, security guard, delivery person etc. receive a Warp it order? Do they have the information they need to assist? What are the barriers from this working in places you’re not there to help? You really need to work your way through every step of a Warp it transaction to ensure they go smoothly.
Golden advice for new reuse projects
Advice from a new member of the £100k club.
Have a chat with folks who have implemented it before, and ask people with similar challenges. Different facilities will find different solutions depending on their environment. Listening now will save 10 x the time down the line.
Did you enjoy this? We're very keen to highlight our members and the quality work they are doing. We'd like to say a big thanks to Martin Farley for his help in putting this case study together and a congratulations to his team for the hard work that has led to their impressive results.
Now take a look at these case studies:
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See how three of our top performing university members and three public institutes have mastered reuse.
