College Students Tackle End of Semester Waste

11 by Becky Striepe on June 24, 2010

Students at two different universities are taking on conspicuous college consumption, and they're doing it brilliantly.

At the end of each school year students at Ohio State University in Columbus open up the "Dump + Run" warehouse where departing students and Columbus locals can ditch their unwanted items. Everything lives in the warehouse over the summer, and they hold a huge yard sale in the fall where residents and incoming students can buy what they need at a bargain.

Proceeds from the yard sale go to a different charity each year.

Not only does this program keep tons of waste out of the landfills, but the yard sale aspect keeps students from purchasing new items at big box stores. It conserves resources on both ends!

Dump + Run has been in place for six years. If folks have larger items to donate, they can even arrange for a pickup.

OSU isn't the only school with a program like this. Penn State's Trash to Treasure program takes end of semester discards and resells them that same summer. This year alone, they collected over 65 tons of waste.

Trash to Treasure averages $50,000 in sales each year, which they donate to a local United Way. Their program has been running 8 years and they've raised more than $370,000 while keeping 530 tons of discarded items out of the landfill.

It's awesome to see students taking responsibility for the waste they create, and giving back to the community at the same time. Do you know about any programs like this at a school near you? We'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Image Credit:
Creative Commons photo by OZ in OH

Sources:
Unclutterer
The Columbus Dispatch
Article Ant

http://nut2t.com Jess Feldish

I started a program like this at my school 2 years ago!

Becky Striepe

That’s awesome, Jess! What school was it at?

tara bee

georgia tech has a sustainable and philanthropic program, known as sustainable move-out, where the recycling office and student organizations get together to collect electronics, mixed office paper, food, clothes/bedding, and assorted office supplies. mixed office paper and electronics are recycled. food, clothes, and bedding are donated to shelters in the atlanta area. the office supplies are put into an ‘office supply exchange’ bank that people on campus can ‘shop’ through for free. it prevents a lot of waste from the landfills while working to benefit the community both on and off campus. ive helped out for about 3 years now

Becky Striepe

Oh cool! Thanks, Tara. It’s heartening to hear that students at so many schools are taking responsibility for waste.

http://vivbizclub.com/products/biodegradable-food-packaging dinesh

There’ve been a couple of pretty cool waste reduction programs kicked off by college students recently. I was reading about another down at Davidson, where a fraternity kid decided that they were using way too many plastic cups at parties and got all the fraternities and sororities on campus to switch over to compostable cups. He then made sure all the used cups were collected, actually composted, and then got the university to use the compost for their flowers / landscaping.

Made me feel a bit guilty about all the party cups I went through back in college, but pretty cool.

Becky Striepe

Awesome! Collecting and actually composting is definitely the trick with compostable cups.

I know what you mean….how many of those red cups did we use and toss before we knew better?

http://vivbizclub.com dinesh

So wrong.

Although thinking about it more, I wonder what’s worse for the environment. Going through all those plastic cups… but using a keg. Or using bottles & cans?

Obviously going re-usable would be best (though I think very unrealistic on most college campuses).

Compostable cups & kegs is definitely the next best option… but I wonder about kegs&plastic cups v. bottles & cans which may be more total resources used (even if they are being recycled).

We need to find some smart fraternity kids to do the lifecycle analysis for us

Becky Striepe

That’s a great question! Maybe a keg and recycled paper cups? Or a keg and a reusable water bottle – eco friendly AND discrete! Not that I’m advocating public drunkenness.

I think if the options are keg and plastic or bottles and cans, the latter might be ideal, if recycling is available.

http://vivbizclub.com dinesh

Ha. I like the keg and re-usable water bottle. If you don’t bring one… you don’t get any beer.

I think we may have the makings of a business idea here Becky . Kleen Kanteen needs to get on top of the fraternity market quick!

Becky Striepe

GreenKeg, LLC. I’m on it!

strike3200

Hey, if anyone needs more compostable or reusable stuff, I think this place is a good way to find some deals. I think their having a 4th of July special.
http://www.greenhome.com

I kinda wish my college buddies had showed more interest in this kinda stuff…