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. at 733 E. 17th (between Alder & Hilyard) RESERVE NOW 1 Bedroom, Furnished Apartments On site laundry & parking. Real value! SUMMER RATE $310 FALL RATE $430 343-2114 or 344-1583 CLAIR LU APARTMENTS 2267 Augusta 2345 Patterson 1,2,4 bedrooms • spacious • dishwashers • patios 895-4355 1,2,3 bedrooms • pool • sauna • dishwashers 895-4355 Not continued from page 6B 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 learo