A few weeks ago, Students for Environmental Awareness held a Free Store for the very
first time during Recycle Mania and it was a great success! For this trial-run of the Free Store,
members of SEA were asked to donate gently used and functional items that they no longer
wanted. I personally donated a coffee maker to the free store and other people donated items
including clothing, books, a vacuum, frisbees, and more.
Staff and faculty on campus can check out the Retriever Exchange for swapping office supplies: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/retriever-exchange
When people came up to the table on Commons Main Street, they were shocked to hear
that all of the items were completely free and asked “what’s the catch?”. The great thing is that
there is no catch; items that would otherwise be thrown out and end up in a landfill are simply
repurposed.
College students are always looking for ways to save money, and programs such
as this save money and help to reach UMBC’s goal of sustainability. The event was such a
success that SEA had another Free Store as part of EcoFest in the end of
April!
Retriever Treasure is a very similar program that could be implemented within the next
few years through a ProveIt! grant. This move-out program would serve to reduce the immense
amount of waste that is produced due to students throwing away unwanted items at the end of
the semester. A lot of these fully functional items are simply left behind because students do not
have enough room to take them home in their cars. After collecting the items, they will be stored
and resold at the beginning of the next year for a fraction of retail cost. The money collected will
be used to fund the program for future years, making it super sustainable!
If this sounds like
something you want on campus, make sure to vote for Retriever Treasure through the SGA ProveIt! grant voting this week!
- Sarah Douglas, UMBC Eco-Ambassador
