What happens to campus trash at the end of the semester?
A Gold Mine for Dumpster Divers
In West Philadelphia, this time of year has been dubbed "Penn Christmas," when at the end of the semester many University of Pennsylvania students move out and throw away the entire contents that filled their dorm room, Greek house or apartment.
While some items prove useful for eager dumpster divers, ecologically-minded students find items to give away and rescue from a trip to the landfill.
Others find the mystery of the junk to be exciting.
" It's also the anthropology of it," said one excavator named Paul in an interview with WHYY Newsworks. "The adventure of looking through people's crap and making guesses about their lives."
Bedroom furniture, stereo sets, kitchen dish sets, textbooks. It's all contained in this trash trove.
Dumpster Donations
The college town of Newark has joined forces with the University of Delaware for the past seven years to host a "UDon't Need it?" student move-out program. By the end of May, area residents can take items to a drop off-spot, and items are sorted, with some given to charitable organizations and others sold to the general public.
"While the program was originally developed to take control of the overwhelming amount of household goods disposed of each spring by departing University students, it has matured into a charitable event as well," said Deb McCredie, assistant University secretary and co-chair of the event. "A large amount of the captured furnishings and home goods are put into the hands of people who need them.”
The event has reduced the amount of re-usable items that end up in the landfills while also providing an opportunity for people who can benefit from the disposed item to pick them up.
Penn State participates in a similar program called "Trash to Treasure," with the end result being 50 tons of donated products to sell.
Trash is Trash
Many campus housing programs throughout the nation provide rental dumpsters for students to sort through waste and recyclables. Not every piece of trash can be repurposed, but much of it can be properly disposed of if sorted beforehand.
Dumpster rentals can stick around for days on end until the last student clears the dorms.
Over time the trashed treasures that do retain value may even become trendy and vintage to college students of the future. Only time will tell, but in the meantime dumpster divers will certainly always look forward to the end of spring as a cherished holiday.
In West Philadelphia, this time of year has been dubbed "Penn Christmas," when at the end of the semester many University of Pennsylvania students move out and throw away the entire contents that filled their dorm room, Greek house or apartment.
While some items prove useful for eager dumpster divers, ecologically-minded students find items to give away and rescue from a trip to the landfill.
Others find the mystery of the junk to be exciting.
" It's also the anthropology of it," said one excavator named Paul in an interview with WHYY Newsworks. "The adventure of looking through people's crap and making guesses about their lives."
Bedroom furniture, stereo sets, kitchen dish sets, textbooks. It's all contained in this trash trove.
Dumpster Donations
The college town of Newark has joined forces with the University of Delaware for the past seven years to host a "UDon't Need it?" student move-out program. By the end of May, area residents can take items to a drop off-spot, and items are sorted, with some given to charitable organizations and others sold to the general public.
"While the program was originally developed to take control of the overwhelming amount of household goods disposed of each spring by departing University students, it has matured into a charitable event as well," said Deb McCredie, assistant University secretary and co-chair of the event. "A large amount of the captured furnishings and home goods are put into the hands of people who need them.”
The event has reduced the amount of re-usable items that end up in the landfills while also providing an opportunity for people who can benefit from the disposed item to pick them up.
Penn State participates in a similar program called "Trash to Treasure," with the end result being 50 tons of donated products to sell.
Trash is Trash
Many campus housing programs throughout the nation provide rental dumpsters for students to sort through waste and recyclables. Not every piece of trash can be repurposed, but much of it can be properly disposed of if sorted beforehand.
Dumpster rentals can stick around for days on end until the last student clears the dorms.
Over time the trashed treasures that do retain value may even become trendy and vintage to college students of the future. Only time will tell, but in the meantime dumpster divers will certainly always look forward to the end of spring as a cherished holiday.
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