Donating Furniture and Equipment

Policy

The purpose of this policy is to make sure schools are aware of the opportunities to donate unwanted school furniture and equipment, including playground equipment, thereby reducing waste sent to landfill.

Summary

• Schools are encouraged to donate unwanted furniture and equipment to other local government schools or to schools in developing countries. This includes the donation of unwanted playground equipment to schools in developing countries
• Donation is often the most practical and cost-effective way of disposing of unwanted assets, such as playground equipment, and reducing landfill.
• The department’s Donating Furniture and Equipment Initiative (refer to the Guidance tab) helps to connect schools with voluntary organisations that can recycle unwanted furniture and playground equipment locally and overseas.
• This policy falls within the 'Disposal' stage of the School Asset Lifecycle.

Details

Schools upgrading their assets should donate unwanted furniture and equipment to other local government schools or to schools in developing countries.

Donation can benefit neighbouring schools and the community, locally and overseas and is often the most practical and cost-effective way of disposing of unwanted assets. Donation also reduces landfill.

The Donating Furniture and Equipment Initiative (refer to the Guidance tab) assists schools to connect with voluntary organisations that can recycle unwanted furniture and equipment locally and overseas. This includes the donation of unwanted playground equipment to schools in developing countries.

Related policies

• Asset Management Planning — School Upgrades
• Capital Building Projects in Schools
• School-funded Capital Projects
• Sustainable Facilities

Donating Furniture and Equipment Initiative

The Donating Furniture and Equipment Initiative encourages schools to donate unwanted items to other Victorian government schools or to schools in developing countries.

This guidance contains the following chapters:

• Recycling options for disposing furniture, playground equipment and other school equipment
• School accountability and donations

Recycling options for disposing furniture, playground equipment and other school equipment

Donation is often the most practical and cost-effective way of disposing of unwanted assets and reducing landfill. Donation can benefit neighbouring schools and the community, locally and overseas.

Local schools

We encourage schools to find out whether other schools in their regional networks need unwanted furniture. This is particularly relevant for schools receiving a capital upgrade that includes the renewal of furniture and equipment.

Schools should advise other schools in their network that they can acquire their old assets. Schools should also advise the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) that a furniture and equipment changeover will form part of their project.

Local charitable options

Schools can contact their nearest charity op shop to donate locally.

You can find local charities through Charitable Recycling Australia.

Charitable Recycling Australia is an umbrella network for many well-known charities encouraging zero waste and recycling.

Donating overseas

Change lives overseas

Recycling unwanted furniture, playground equipment and other school equipment can be a fantastic opportunity to engage your school community in a project that benefits both a developing country and our Australian environment.

Developing nations only an hour’s flight from Australia are in desperate need of school furniture and equipment for students as well as teachers and other resources. Timor Leste, for example, is short of desks and chairs for 50,000 children, and Papua New Guinea needs many as well.

Instead of sending unwanted furniture and equipment to landfill, it can be sent to one of these countries where it will make a critical difference to children’s learning outcomes.

Schools can play a vital role in helping our less fortunate neighbours by contributing their unwanted furniture and equipment and contributing to the shipping costs.

Donating via Rotary and Pacific Assist

Rotary International and Pacific Assist are volunteer organisations that can help recycle old furniture, playground equipment and other school equipment overseas.

Rotary and Pacific Assist will assess your items, so they are acceptable for collection, help establish logistical arrangements and a timeframe for their removal.

These organisations volunteer their time and labour to collect and transfer retired equipment to collection points. Schools are encouraged to contribute to the costs of equipment collection and transfer as a form of donation, through school funds or by fundraisers within the school community.

This is an exciting opportunity for Australian students to understand both the role they can play in helping others and the necessity of taking responsibility for items that they can no longer use. Shipments can be tracked so that the students can see the children that they have directly helped by their efforts.

Schools should contact Rotary or Pacific Assist (contact details are below) as soon as they decide to dispose unwanted furniture and equipment. This will facilitate an assessment of acceptable items for collection, help establish logistical arrangements and a timeframe for removal.

In addition to supporting needy students and teachers in Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific islands, government schools here will have an opportunity to establish strong sibling-school relationships.

Rotary

Rotary’s Victorian Primary School Recycling Project sends retired school furniture and equipment, primarily desks and chairs, to needy schools in Timor Leste and other developing countries. The project is managed by Rotary’s West Footscray Donations in Kind store.

In addition to classroom furniture and equipment – including staff furniture, bookcases, metal cupboards and filing cabinets – it also collects retired library books and stationery.

Contact Rotary’s Donations in Kind store to arrange a donation.

Rotary Overseas Recycled Playgrounds collects unwanted playgrounds from councils and schools and sends them to disadvantaged overseas communities.

This project has collected over 50 playgrounds from across Victoria and sent them to Timor Leste, the Philippines, Tanzania and Sri Lanka.

To register your school’s interest, fill out Rotary’s Overseas Recycled Playgrounds Form.

Pacific Assist

Pacific Assist’s Furniture for Schools sends unwanted items to schools in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Papua New Guinea.

Pacific Assist also collects donated library books, computers and laptops with intact operating systems and applications.

Pacific Assist has an office in Melbourne and can arrange for collection and shipping.

To register your school’s interest, fill out Pacific Assist’s Furniture for Schools Donations Form.

School accountability and donations

Under the Finance Manual — Financial Management for Schools Policy and Guidelines, schools need to record all items with a value of $5,000 or more in the CASES21 Finance Asset Register. For articles which have reached the end of their useful life, this amount rarely applies to retired furniture and equipment that might find a renewed use in other school-based scenarios.

Assets that are no longer required, obsolete or retired are released from the asset register. Schools should refer to Section 13 of the Finance Manual for Victorian Government Schools to ensure that they comply with any transfer or disposal requirements.

While costs are inevitably incurred in the clearance of unwanted furniture and equipment, this expense can be directed to good recycling opportunities. Schools may be able to register the cost of such disposals as a charitable donation.

Resources

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