Meet with stakeholders such as facilities management/ estate management to explore how the system will work and possible change of existing policy.

The first objective of the Warp It service is to create an opportunity for staff to redistribute surplus items before traditional disposal.

The second objective is to create a convenient marketplace so that staff who are about to buy new can check if other staff have the item available surplus.

This may need a change of practice and/ policy from the norm. This should not be any extra work for estates management or procurement staff- in fact it should be less.

Surplus items would have to be collected and disposed of anyway- so why not give them a chance of a second life first?

We often see some reluctance in the estates management function, and so this brief guide outlines the benefits over business as usual.

Day to day disposal of items

Instead of staff calling/emailing estates staff asking for disposal of their items. Staff should be encouraged to upload the item to the system- to advertise to others internally and then externally (if appropriate).

Obviously this requires some policy change but start off by just suggesting staff do it voluntarily- and use the ethical and sustainability reasons for persuasion. Adding an item takes less than 30 seconds. Adding 100 of the same item takes less than 30 seconds. The same time to carry out the traditional disposal phone call!

Once the voluntary group illustrate the possible savings, (£100 K in 4 months for Strathclyde University for example) it is time to explore a change to policy or practice and make “adding items to the system” for disposal mandatory.

A side effect of this activity is that it reduces movements of surplus items. The service matches the disposer with the new owner directly, missing out the need to store- thus cutting movements down by 50%. Saving time, saving cost on skips and staff time filling skips. This is a big benefit for estates management staff.

When carrying out building clearances see the time savings here.

As an item approaches it's deadline it can be advertised to charity. Again this saves estate management staff time as the staff don’t have to move the items- the 3rd party comes in to move the items.

What if items are not claimed?

If an item is not claimed - then 5 days before the expiry the staff member receives a notification asking if they would like to extend the deadline or dispose. At which point they can integrate with the normal disposal system.

Reluctance and negotiation

As with any change to practice there will be resistance in some quarters. If there is reluctance from the estates management department to engage with the system try the following approaches

To counter this or smooth the transition, try some negotiation. Use any of the following to reduce the negative reaction to a change in process. Keep in mind the system is used for the day to day turnover of “stuff” as well as building moves.

1. Trial using the system on one part of one building move/ clearance.


2. Trial the system with just one "waste stream" with operators chairs for example, or with the stationery that is being left behind.


3. Use the system to trade for sub 20KG items only. This will then build up use of the service- with a reduced need for estates staff involvement and prove it works for the organisation. Then approach the estates function with the evidence in year 1 or 2.

The best way of getting estates function on board is to demonstrate how easy the system is to use and the time and money savings it brings.