Businesses in South West England could release £10,000 tied up in idle equipment

By Nicky Godding

3 November 2022

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New research has revealed that UK businesses have nearly £59 billion worth of capital tied up in working assets they no longer need. For individual organisations, that could mean more than £10,000 worth of equipment.

The new data shows 67 per cent of respondents - as many as 3.7 million UK businesses - admit to having have good quality, working equipment they no longer need.

As pressure mounts to find new ways to reduce the cost of doing business, reuse specialist, Ramco, is urging businesses to contribute to the circular economy and find new homes for idle items – rather than letting them go to waste.

Conducted by Censuswide, Bristol-based Ramco’s research highlights 75 per cent of senior managers dislike the idea of unwanted equipment being scrapped or left to ruin in their business. Despite this, 59 per cent say they have disposed of working equipment by sending it to landfill in the last five years.

With demand for second-hand business assets at the highest point in Ramco’s 26 years of operation, founder and MD Neil Sanderson says the research findings are frustrating: “The second-hand market for consumer goods is booming through platforms like eBay, Vinted and the rise of fashion rental. It’s the same picture for the commercial second-hand market, so to discover businesses have such huge capital tied up in good assets they no longer use when costs for doing business are rising, is hard to hear.”

Topping the list of second-hand business equipment sought by Ramco’s buyers are electrical goods, followed by industrial and plant machinery. And 66 per cent of all businesses surveyed say they regularly seek to purchase second-hand equipment before looking to buy new.

Neil continues: “It’s frustrating to see how much untapped potential there is when it comes to second-hand business goods. Across the country there’s a mountain of good quality items being unused and left to ruin.

“As the cost of doing business spirals, we’re urging businesses in the South West to use this opportunity to review their assets and where they’re no longer needed, give them a new lease of life instead of letting them go to waste. It’s an opportunity to reduce an organisation’s carbon footprint, minimise storage costs and unlock capital. None of us can afford to waste resources - for the planet and for profit.”

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.