In a post on Reddit, an office worker shared a photo of the dumpster outside his building. “This makes me angry,” he posted in the r/Anticonsumption subreddit. It makes me angry too.

In his dumpster is a mountain of perfectly good office furniture, all headed for the landfill.

Chairs wear out, ergonomics improve, design trends shift. But what happens to the pieces left behind? Too often, the answer is simple: they’re thrown away.

It’s an image that should make anyone in this industry cringe. Office furniture waste isn’t some minor issue. Nearly 10 million tons of it are dumped into U.S. landfills every year. Chairs, desks, tables, electronics — objects that could have been recycled, donated or reused are instead buried as trash.

Research published by the Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA) in the U.K. found that making just one standard office chair results in an average of 72 lbs. of carbon. According to 2018 EPA estimates, up to 8.5 million tons, or 17 billion pounds, of office assets end up in U.S. landfills annually. The EPA also reported that while the population of the United States increased by almost 55% from 1960 to 2018, the amount of furniture (residential and commercial) and furnishings ending up in the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream increased almost 550%.

The Reddit thread captured the frustration. Teachers pointed out how schools desperately need decent chairs. Employees wondered why their companies didn’t offer the furniture to staff before hauling it away. One worker fumed about sitting in the same broken chair for a decade while usable ones were discarded by the truckload.

Here’s the truth: this isn’t just a Reddit gripe. It’s a systemic failure. We know better. The industry has options. Companies like Reseat, led by Brandi Susewicz, are proving every day that reuse at scale is possible. They’ve built networks to resell, recycle and donate furniture that still has life in it. The model works. What I can’t understand is why more manufacturers and dealers aren’t stepping up to work with Reseat.

Some companies are getting it right on their own, on a smaller scale. One Reddit user said their office sold old chairs in the lobby for a modest donation to charity. Others suggested simple fixes: post them on Marketplace, donate them to refurbishers or offer them to employees. Small actions, big impact.

It’s easy for our industry to make the sale and claim ignorance about what might or might not happen to that chair or desk. Some companies have take-back programs, which is a start. Others make products easy to recycle or make them out of recycled materials. It’s not enough. As a manufacturer, you know that much of what you sell will end up in the landfill someday, regardless of your green pedigree. It’s time for you to do better.

I’m not trying to point fingers. But as an industry, we should recognize that every office, every dealer, every manufacturer has a choice. The landfill shouldn’t be the default. When furniture is recycled, reused or donated, everyone wins.

Sustainability isn’t a buzzword anymore. It’s becoming the standard. And companies that ignore it risk not only their reputations, but also their bottom line. The next generation of employees and customers are watching. They want to work for and buy from organizations that take responsibility seriously.

That image of chairs piled in a dumpster is more than just a photo. It’s a reminder. A reminder that we can do better, that we have the tools and partners to make waste the exception, not the rule. The office furniture industry prides itself on solving problems. Here’s one that needs solving now.