ING's zero-waste office relocation

ING needed to clear a 94,000 m2 headquarters that had served the business for more than 40 years. The site held thousands of furniture items, carried real operational history, and required a removal plan that respected both scale and legacy.

The goal was not simply to empty a building. ING wanted the most sustainable route for the furniture, with reuse prioritised wherever possible and transparent handling for anything that could not be placed again.

Relieve catalogued and classified furniture across the site, combining digital tools, logistics planning, and reuse expertise to make a large inventory manageable. Usable items were prepared for second-life routes through companies, organisations, and community spaces.

For items that could not be reused, Relieve worked with certified recycling partners to keep material handling traceable. The project continued beyond the clearance itself, with furniture placed through partners including Commons Hub, CDT Europe, Compagnie ABC, Knees to Chin, and others.

The project saved 898.17 tonnes of CO2 and rehoused 4,850 items. It also supported more than 1,400 beneficiaries through redistribution and gave ING transparent carbon and ESG reporting for internal sustainability work.

More importantly, the project showed that circular office removals can work at very large scale when inventory, logistics, reuse, redistribution, and recycling are treated as one connected system.