University of Alberta
OP-T2-38: Materials Exchange

All items purchased by the University of Alberta remain the property of the institution. Departments are required to manage their assets appropriately by ensuring that all goods, once they have completed their life cycle for the department, are available for use by other departments on campus. The process to complete this is to contact the surplus assets department, obtain a surplus disposal declaration number and submit a completed surplus form. Supply Management Services (SMS) – Surplus Operations will pick up all items and bring them to the central warehouse. After items are brought to the warehouse, a sort is completed and it is determined if the goods can be reused on-campus or should be disposed of off-campus. Items that still have value on-campus are kept within the warehouse while an appropriate home is found. In most cases. the equipment is transferred at no cost to the other department. Goods that cannot be reused on campus will be disposed of in a number of different ways. Goods that have value but are unusable on-campus will be offered for sale on different websites and removed from campus. Electronic waste will be taken to a local recycler for processing. All metal is separated and removed to a metal recycler. All waste is minimized and very few items are removed to the landfill. SMS is responsible for the movement of goods to and from campus. Within SMS are six units including Purchasing, Travel, Equipment Services, Customs, Distribution Services, and Payables. Each day, approximately 1000 shipments are received and delivered on-campus.