Give your stuff to local schools

In 2016 I started a project at work based on the Kaizen philosophy. It's all about avoiding waste in the widest sense of the word - from unnecessary items to inefficient processes to waste of people's talent.

Tidy up

Our first phase was basically to clear out clutter across the site. In the process, we unearthed loads of unused lab glassware, outdated but functioning lab equipment and office items we no longer needed. In Kaizen spirit we call these "red tag items" because they receive a red tag to mark them as logged in my database.
I felt that it would be a crime to just bin everything. So, I contacted the local council (local UK city administration) to enquire whether schools might take these things off our hands.

Give away

After inspecting my item list, the lady at the council suggested contacting secondary schools and gave me the relevant details. Four schools got back to me with their wish lists! It was such a great feeling when they came to pick things up. It gave this whole tidying effort much more purpose.

I drafted a disclaimer for the school reps to sign on pick-up to rid our company of any liability and handed things over in reused boxes we had left from deliveries. Once the process was established, it was easy.
One of the school techs admitted that our donations are such a relief for their constrained budgets. He tells me every now and then about the fate of some of the items. He's quite inventive in re-purposing things.

Keep it up

Every time our red tag shelf fills up, I send my "catalogue" to the two most responsive schools. They always come and take most, if not all, away.
It turns out that one of the school science techs actually runs an unofficial WhatsApp group to connect the science techs in the area (apparently it can be a lonely job). He also uses this group to distribute our red tag items to other schools. What a great network! I am proud to be able to help those pro-active teachers and school techs.

Which unwanted items can you donate to schools in your area?

gif from here by @rocking-dave