Give old furniture new life somewhere else at AU

Changing our habits can take time. When we need a new office chair, the natural first impulse is to buy a new one. And when a conference room or basement gradually fills up with cast-off furniture, it’s easy to keep letting it pile up – out of sight, out of mind. And who knows when you might need that bookshelf again? 

This is where AU’s reuse portal AU ReUse comes into the picture. 

Since autumn 2025, administrative staff at the departments, schools and other units have been uploading surplus furniture to the portal, so that staff across the university can search for and order used items they need – instead of buying new ones. This not only helps AU save money – it’s also good for the climate and the environment. What’s more, using the portal to list and order surplus furniture is free of charge for AU units.

The AU ReUse webshop is in Danish due to technical limitations. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t contribute to and benefit from the portal: there are administrative staff at all units who can upload photos and descriptions of used furniture to AU ReUse and help you find used furniture if you need something.

Reusing furniture is part of the AU climate action plan

The selection of furniture available on the platform is growing steadily. But as University Director Kristian Thorn acknowledges, AU ReUse still hasn’t reached its full potential. The selection of furniture on the platform needs to be broader if checking AU ReUse is to become the natural first step when the need for furniture arises.

“We’re perhaps not used to parting with furniture that was once selected with care. But AU ReUse is a hands-on way for us to take action towards meeting our climate targets in the day-to-day. The portal is still relatively new, and we need all units to contribute the furniture they no longer use. The larger the selection becomes, the more attractive it will become to reuse instead of buying new items,” says Kristian Thorn.

AU ReUse is a key focus area in the university’s climate action plan for 2026. According to the plan, individual units are responsible for uploading surplus equipment to the reuse portal, in this way contributing to more internal reuse at AU. 

From local to university-wide reuse

Around AU, there are already some local reuse schemes for furniture and equipment that have existed for quite some time. The Department of Physics and Astronomy is one example. And Heidi Pedersen, a secretary at the department, welcomes the university-wide ReUse initiative. She’s currently uploading some of the department’s unneeded furniture to the platform.

“We’ve had our own local ‘ReUse storeroom’ at the department for a long time. I think it really makes sense to make reuse an option across the university. There’s no need to throw things away if they still work. They might as well be of use to others if we don’t need them ourselves any more," she says.