Let’s give a big hand to Andy Hay from NHS Tayside, who has joined us to talk about exactly why it’s simple math for procurement professionals to lead on reuse of furniture, equipment and supplies in institutions.

We talk:

• Sustainable healthcare.
• Why procurement should take an active part in encouraging reuse in an organisation.
• How they have made procurement savings of over £210K on a £10K investment.

We’re really pleased to share this conversation with you, as well as some of the great things that Andy has told us in the past about reuse at NHS Tayside.

Q: What is circular procurement?

We tell you here.

Q: How do we start circular procurement?

We give you an easy win here.

Are you decommissioning a school building and thinking "how do i clear a school?" of surplus assets? Or "How do I redistribute surplus assets?" 

Edinburgh City Council achieved cost avoidance of £300K redistributing the surplus assets from just one school using Warp It. When we found out about this amazing feat we had to find out how they did it. We spoke to the project lead, Mollie Kerr.

The highlights of the project is as follows

• Strong leadership from the procurement department
• Collaboration with different Service Areas
• Purchasing controlled by procurement department
• The reuse of surplus assets is prioritized over recycling- (A no brainer right? You would think so but most building clearences pass their surplus for recycling- this is bad- the value in a chair is providing the function of sitting! Not scrap value for metal. )

Warp It is a unique service in the surplus asset management world. There are no other service providers who achieve the reuse and repair of surplus assets in the same method or using the same technology.

This blog post explains why Warp It is unique.

Use this content as evidence for the procurement department when considering whether  there is a need to go to tender for a reuse platform or service. 

This week we welcome Helen Mackenzie, Head of Procurement and Exchequer Services at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (also known as Western Isles Council) in the Outer Hebrides islands in North West Scotland.

Helen is a forward thinking procurement veteran and was on one of the first Scottish Councils to sign up to Warp It .

Helen really understands that procurement and sustainability are inextricably linked.  Her insights into procurement and effecting change are both interesting and informative and we hope you will enjoy reading this discussion.

Warp It are delighted to welcome Kirsty Hughes, Head of Operational Procurement at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.

Good question! Thanks to a very fruitful business meeting recently, we have come up with three reasons why procurement should lead on the reuse of surplus assets.

In this blog post we explain exactly how reuse, and the development of a reuse programme, can reduce procurement demand in the procurement department. This in turn gives staff and colleagues in the procurement department an opportunity to reduce their workload on administrative tasks and focus on more meaningful jobs.

Welcome to this latest blog post, where we take a look at the bizarre or unexpected things that can drive reuse or surpls assets furniture and equipment in an organisation.

It’s important to note that these are random benefits we never thought of before we set  off on our mission of making reuse mainstream. 

They are anecdotes have been fed back to us from customers. It is also important to note that only some of these things are measurable.