Unwanted home items
Stores such as Goodwill
and St Vincent DeRaul
will accept unwanted
goods that can be resold
Tom Adams
Freelance Reporter
With summer on the hori
zon, many students will soon
be filling boxes for the end-of
the-school-year move. If the
thought of packing and mov
ing every little thing is daunt
ing, students should consider
some ecologically sound ways
to lighten the load. There are
many options for recycling
unwanted items.
Students living in the resi
dence halls can get rid of
their unwanted goods just by
stepping out into the hall
way. University Custodial
Services places clearly
marked bins in residence
halls to collect the items.
Custodial Services Manager
Bonnie Damewood oversees
the program, which has been
in operation for the past six
years. She said that just
about everything imaginable
gets donated.
“We get everything from
books and clothing to iguana
food,” she said. Damewood
said an average of three tons
of unwanted goods are collect
ed each year. The items are
then donated to local non
profit groups, such as the
Springfield/Marcola Family
Resource Center.
For students living off cam
pus, charitable organizations
such as St. Vincent DePaul,
Goodwill, The ARC and the Sal
vation Army all offer conven
ient opportunities to donate.
St. Vincent DePaul has
eight local retail outlets, and
according to Charlie Harvey,
the assistant to the executive
director, everything from ap
pliances and computers to
knick-knacks and plates are
accepted. He said the charita
ble organization has been suc
cessful at not only reselling
items, but also recycling what
is unusable.
“We receive over a million
pounds of clothing a year,
but only two-thirds of it is
usable,” he said. “Rather
than discard all extra cloth
ing into a landfill, we’ve de
veloped a program that sells
the textile to local and inter
national companies who
then use the material to
make new clothes. It’s very
practical recycling.”
Harvey said St. Vincent’s
will pick up most items at no
charge. However, there is a
$5 charge for usable appli
ances and computer moni
tors. If an appliance is not sal
vageable, it can still be hauled
out of your home for a nomi
nal 020. It is then stripped for
any usable parts and scraps
are recycled.
Junior Shaun Cook said he
would rather donate his un
wanted things than throw
them into a Dumpster.
“I’d go that extra step,” he
said. “I mean, I get all my
stuff from there and I’m sure
that somebody else can
make use of some of my
things. This year I bought a
bed, coffee table, chair,
couch and lamp from St.
Vincent’s. These were all
somebody else’s things and
all are perfectly usable.”
BRING Recycling is also
another outlet for unwanted
items. Business Manager
David Wollner said the or
ganization specializes in re
furbishing and reselling
things one might find in a
shop or garage.
“We take things like hand
tools, power tools and all sorts
of wood furniture,” he said. He
added the company only takes
hard furniture such as tables,
chairs, bookcases, dressers and
file cabinets. Soft furniture
such as mattresses and couch
es are not accepted.
And until June 1, BRING
Recycling will also have a
drop-off site for old athletic
shoes. The program is part of
Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program,
which has challenged 25 com
munities nationwide to col
lect 5,000 pairs of athletic
shoes by June 1. The shoes
will be ground up and used as
a resurfacing material for
track and athletic fields.
Tom Adams is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Shaleen Kessler, front, sorts through boxes of books for St. Vincent DePaul. This is just one place where
students can donate items they are left with when moving.
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being pie-eyed on the floor in
front of empty boxes, giggling
and feeling wistful while going
through the stuff that embod
ies your life. It’s also a nice
way to condition yourself not
to be too nostalgic. I mean,
you don’t have all night, so
keep the remembrances
short and sweet.
• Unload the baggage. Once
you’ve felt those pangs of hap
py times, let some of the stuff
go. It’s OK to sift and sort —
and throw things away.
• Organize and label.
While you’re packing, it is
the perfect time to make
sure things are sorted into
the right boxes, organized
by type of stuff (and size and
color, if you’re really geeked
out). It will make unpacking
all the easier.
I always have a great time
packing; you can, too. Un
fortunately, even the best
organization won’t shorten
the two flights of stairs to
your new apartment.
Contact the editor in chief
at editor@dailyemerald.com. His
opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
Hot
continued from page 6B
already wanting to beat my
head against the wall. I curse
myself for saving everything,
but I still can’t throw any of it
away, so I curse myself for ac
cumulating so much crap to
begin with. Of course I know I
don’t have room to take
everything with me from
place to place, so most of it
goes in boxes and gets
dropped in a dirty, musty
warehouse on Dad’s property.
Therein lies the problem: I
am never able to take the
time to stop and sort through
my belongings. Often I’m so
overwhelmed with the enor
mity of my packing and
cleaning crisis that throwing
everything into the closest
box is the most I can do. Con
sequently, I lose half of my
stuff with every move. So
what do I do to solve this
problem? You guessed it —
get more stuff.
If only I could wrinkle my
nose and transport my neatly
organized boxes directly to
my new place, moving would
be a juicy peach.
Contact the managing editor
at jessicarichelderfer@dailyeme
raid.com. Her opinions do not
necessarily represent those
of the Emerald.
Come work, for us.
The Oregon Daily Emerald is always looking for young writers who mm to
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