Volunteers with the University of New Hampshire’s Trash 2 Treasure program have been rolling rugs and testing televisions all summer long in preparation for their second annual move-in weekend yard sale.  Throughout the month of May 2012, the T2T team collected furniture, clothing, electronics and more from various drop-off points around the UNH campus, and even made special pick-ups at off-campus apartments in the surrounding towns.  The items were cleaned and stored over the summer and will be displayed for sale at the start of the fall semester.

They estimate that the 2011 T2T cycle diverted 57,000 pounds of perfectly usable items from the waste stream, and expect the numbers to be even higher for the 2012 cycle .  T2T is a self-sustaining program; the money made at the yard sale goes toward the costs of storing and cleaning items and running the following year’s sale, and expanding their program’s specific model to other campuses.  The few leftover items are kept in the community—either donated to local churches for their fall sales or to local secondhand shops.  You can get a feel for the entire process from this video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Northeastern University also has a Trash 2 Treasure program, with item collection in the spring and a sale in the fall.  In a unique twist on engaging the student community, all student organizations that volunteer will receive a portion of the sale’s profits, proportional to the number of volunteer hours its members commit; everything else will go to a local charity.

At the University of Texas, the Campus Environmental Center’s T2T profits go toward campus environmental programming such as recycling and energy conservation initiatives.

This back to school season, consider ways to minimize your resource consumption—borrow items from friends and family, buy used, and if you have to buy new, keep your purchases local—it cuts down on fossil fuels used in production and transportation, and, according to a study by the Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP), for every $100 spent at a local, independent business, the additional benefit to the community is nearly double that of a purchase of the same amount at a chain.  Buying used usually eliminates the need for plastic and Styrofoam packaging (especially if you bring your own bag!), further eliminating waste.

Trash 2 Treasure programs keep usable items from unnecessarily filling limited landfill space, and prevent the use of fossil fuels in the production, packaging and shipping of new items.

Support your campus community, your home community, and our environment as a whole as you get back into the swing of things!  If your back-to-school list is all checked off, you can still help your local T2T sale by volunteering.  Can you think of any better way to kick off the year?!  And you never know what you’ll find…

Does your campus have a similar back-to-school yard sale?  Leave a comment to let us know!

Here are a few more sales that we know about, as featured in Generation E:  Students Leading for a Sustainble, Clean Energy Future:
• Ohio State Dump and Run
• Suffolk University Dump and Run

• Students at Acton-Boxborough High School in Acton, MA got down and dirty – literally. They turned their waste audit into a party and invited State Senator Jamie Eldridge to participate. Read all about it here.
  

  Waste Audit Party at Acton-Boxborough High School

• 3rd grade students at Villa Academy in Seattle, WA created a movie highlighting the ‘Littermess Monster’ who has been wreaking havoc at the school. Who is the Littermess Monster? Watch this movie to find out.

• Villa Academy students also held a flash mob during recess to raise awareness about recycling. The students danced around and got other students to help them pick-up trash. Watch the video here.

• Students at United High School in Armagh, PA held a Trashin’ Fashion Show. Students created outfits from recycled items and wore them down the runway. Students fashioned skirts from old CDs, vests from decks of cards, dresses from newspapers, and purses from potato chip bags. Check-out the fashions here.

>>Learn how you can start a FUN environmental sustainability program at your school by visiting the Eco-Schools USA website.

>> Check-out our case studies archive to learn more about what schools are doing to go green.

The Initiative ties in well with the Eco-Schools USA program and complements our consumption and waste pathway. In-fact the Plasti-Gone Initiative has been structured so that schools who complete the initiative can qualify for a bronze level award under the Eco-Schools USA program. Pretty cool!

I asked Paige if she’d be willing to write a case study for the Eco-Schools USA website, and she graciously accepted. Here is an excerpt from that case study where she highlights the challenges of embracing conservation at school:

“Sometimes, the high school dynamic can be disadvantageous for someone interested in sustainability. Remembering that re-usable water bottle is not always easy, and recycling the one you had to buy is not always convenient; for a community of busy and academically engaged students, convenience and ease take priority. At times I have found it discouraging that my peers and I are not always capable of accomplishing all that we should in the ‘green’ department. Nichols School’s sponsorship of our attendance at the Plastics Are Forever Youth Summit forced me to realize how important this work is. Sure, trigonometry and French conjugations absolutely should be mastered, but I recognized that the duty of stewardship is just as vital.”

Read more of Paige’s case study, and learn how the Plastics Are Forever Youth Summit inspired the creation of Plasti-Gone.

You can learn more about Eco-Schools USA at  www.eco-schoolsusa.org

You can visit the Plasti-Gone Initiative website at: www.plastigone.org