My name is James Huffman, I am a Business Administration major, with a focus in marketing, and I will graduate in May 2025. While searching for a summer internship in 2024, I came across a good opportunity to intern with a small company in my hometown Concord, NH, The Reuse Network (or IRN). IRN works with schools and other institutions to keep reusable furniture out of the landfill and in the hands of people who need it. They have a network of more than 250 nonprofit recipients of furnishings, ranging from local furniture banks and Habitat for Humanity ReStores to large international relief organizations.?
Through working for IRN I learned about the importance of sustainability and reuse. I have continued my work with IRN and now serve as their head of e-marketing. I am constantly scrolling through decades of photos from recipients from around the world. Being able to see the impact IRN is making globally sparked my interest in sustainability.?
In addition to my marketing responsibilities at IRN, I also help with project management. This not only provided me the opportunity to travel all over the country this past summer, but it also allowed me to contribute to the impactful work that IRN is doing.
Since IRN’s first project with UNH in 2008, IRN has successfully completed six projects with UNH, removing over 6,000 pieces of furniture from our campus for reuse. In our latest project, I had the opportunity to be on-site. It was an awesome experience to work for IRN on the campus I’ve called home for the past three years.?
So, how does a UNH project with IRN work? When UNH reaches out to us at IRN with an inventory of reusable furniture, we reach out to and identify the subset of partners most likely to accept the inventory, based on inventory composition and size and the geographic reach of the charities.?Accurate piece counts and photographs are essential, because the nonprofits are not simply accepting "a bunch of furniture" but are matching specific inventories with the needs of individual communities they serve.?It may be claimed by a single recipient or divided among two or more.
Once the match is made, IRN works with the recipient to set up transportation (box trucks or tractor-trailers for U.S. recipients, overseas shipping containers for recipients abroad), and schedule trailers/containers to arrive to meet UNH's project schedule.?Many of our larger charitable partners have their own logistics staff who make these arrangements; for smaller or less experienced partners, IRN handles these tasks.
You might wonder what the cost of or ‘return on investment’ on all of this is – the benefits of working with IRN far exceed the costs involved. This being said, I believe the term 'return on investment' in the traditional financial sense is not an accurate one for this kind of project and partnership. IRN’s costs are on par with what UNH would typically pay for standard disposal services. However, by choosing IRN, UNH fulfills its need for furniture removal and ensures the items are repurposed for those in need, rather than being sent to a landfill. In other words, UNH pays the same cost as traditional disposal, while simultaneously supporting sustainability and social good. That is one of the most important “returns on investment” of a project like this. UNH is committed to becoming a “zero waste” campus, and IRN plays a crucial role in helping meet this goal by ensuring that furniture is reused rather than disposed of. This also supports UNH’s public commitment to sustainability and improving its reputation as environmentally responsible.
IRN is dedicated to these principles, and together, advancing UNH's sustainability goals!
