Duke Surplus Gives Office Items Second Life
Free items for office, department use
Whether to furnish the workspace of a new employee or to restock binders, notepads or toner cartridges, faculty and staff can do so for free through a unique Duke program.
Duke Surplus allows employees to peruse about 2,000 square feet of space full of office items sent by Duke departments. In fiscal year 2015, Duke Surplus donated 360 computers and 2,831 items of furniture, furnishings or equipment back to departments. About 10,042 other items were donated to local non-profit organizations registered with Duke Surplus.
Read More“If we never buy another chair, desk or filing cabinet at Duke, there would probably still be plenty to go around,” said Mary Crawford, director of Duke’s procurement programs. “This program eliminates waste and excess resources, and saves Duke money.”
The Duke Surplus donation site is located off Neal Road in Durham and is open to faculty and staff twice weekly. Duke community members only need to bring their DukeCard ID and an interdepartmental transfer form from a supervisor to get items. Inventory available in the showroom can include everything from coffee tables and card catalogues to binders and rugs.
Duke requires that all property no longer needed, like chairs, desks and computers, be processed by Duke Surplus, with reusable items collected and sorted at the program’s warehouse. Unusable items, such as desks with broken drawers, are set aside for recycling.
The program also offers items that go beyond Duke’s walls through the Global Health PLUS program, which facilitates the transfer of Duke’s surplus medical equipment to low-resource communities in places throughout the world like Ghana, Bolivia and Nigeria.
Since 2007, Global Health PLUS has sent about 50 tons of equipment to Mulago Hospital in Uganda, including items like ventilators, microscopes, electronic blood pressure cuffs and operating room lights.
“There’s not anything wrong with the equipment, it’s often a case of Duke changing over what we use,” said Dr. Dennis Clements, professor of pediatrics and global health at the Global Health Institute, who oversees the Global Health PLUS program. “It not only helps those in need all over the world, but it expands Duke’s global health presence.”
Clements said Duke might send one to three shipments of equipment overseas each year, with a typical batch weighing about 2,000 pounds.
“Maybe it’s incubators for babies, maybe it’s anesthesia machines,” Clements said. “It’s about providing these hospitals with the opportunity to do things they couldn’t otherwise do.”