蜜桃传媒

First-year college students have a lot to consider when moving into their dorms — including how they’ll decorate their temporary living space. Even with the best intentions, many of the items students purchase are still in their original packaging at the end of the year. Thanks to UBReUSE, students can donate those new and lightly used items instead of sending them to the landfill.

UBReUSE is a program whose primary goals are to ensure usable goods are not discarded and to collect, inspect and repurpose those items by offering the goods back to students to promote thrifting, reuse and responsible consumption of materials.

“The program asks students to give thought to their consumption, the best ways to offload unwanted items and how resources can be shared,” says Olivia McCarthy, sustainability operations coordinator. “We can clearly see a desire from students to do more than just dump their items as they leave campus. It takes collective student action, both in taking advantage of the program and also contributing time to strengthening UBReUSE. Student engagement at every level is necessary and has really been part of the program from the beginning.”

The program helps reduce Scope 3 emissions related to both waste and consumption, and aligns directly with UB’s climate goals by encouraging circular economy practices and community involvement.

Begun as a student program under UB Sustainability in 2017, students remain at the core of the current program, which is now being led by members of the Student Sustainability Impact Team (SSIT). The team collects, sorts and cleans the items over the summer and then redistributes them to the UB community at a sale held at the GRoW Clean Energy Center during the first week of classes in the fall.

Madison Schubert, a rising senior majoring in environmental studies with a minor in management, is a SSIT member who is interning as the new student lead of UBReUSE. Schubert coordinates donation logistics, manage volunteers and oversees outreach and organization for the summer sorting process and the fall sale.

“I got involved with UB Sustainability through volunteering with UBReUse last year. I loved the mission and wanted to support the program as much as I could,” Schubert says. “Since I live in Buffalo year-round, I was hired as the lead sorter over the summer. That experience allowed me to see firsthand the volume of materials we collect and the incredible potential for impact.”

Schubert is working to improve signage, categorization and collection logistics to ensure her team is only accepting items that meet UB Sustainability’s quality guidelines. She is also working to strengthen volunteer coordination — one of the program’s key goals is to increase volunteer turnout by 50% and make it easier for students to help. This year, she says, the program was able to achieve this goal with help from volunteers from Alpha Kappa Chi, the environmental fraternity on campus; students from UB’s environmental and sustainability program; and SSIT members.

“UB Sustainability promotes the program through campus events, social media, partnerships with Residence Life and Campus Living, and word of mouth,” Schubert explains. “We try to make volunteering easy, fun and meaningful, and we love when students see how direct their impact can be.”

Genevieve Fontana, UB Sustainability’s communications and outreach student assistant, is working on expanding student involvement by marketing the donation bin itself. In order to clearly let students know where their items are going, Fontana came up with a design solution.

“We created . She's really cute. We’re just trying to create a personal connection with the bin, so people don't think that their items are going to the trash and instead understand that they’re going to be reused by someone else.”

Fontana designed Bonnie with a “vintage feel” to draw on the thrifting element of the resale event, which she hopes will draw students to get involved. “It’s really hard to get people involved during this time of year because they’re so busy with exams, but it’s peak time because people are moving out and throwing out their things. I just really wish that people knew how important it is and that there was regular student involvement,” Fontana says.

Beyond its direct sustainability impacts, UBReUSE also encourages long-term environmentally conscious behavior for members of the community by fostering a culture of circularity and informed consumption on campus.

“It empowers students to rethink what they throw away and shows that sustainability can be both practical and community-driven,” Schubert says. “We also donate excess items to local organizations like Hearts for the Homeless, UB Blue Table and UB Heals — a street medicine outreach initiative of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences that provides essential health care access to those experiencing homelessness in Buffalo — to extend the impact beyond campus.”

Schubert hopes UBReUSE continues to grow. “With each year, I think we can reduce more waste and reach more students with this message of sustainability and community sharing,” she says.

The UBReUSE Collection Sale will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 27 at the GRoW Clean Energy Center. will be available this summer. 

UBReUSE is always looking for volunteers.