He is back to school for millions of university students throughout the country. But an involuntary consequence of those returning to academics is up to 640 pounds of garbage that the average university student produces every year, most of which accumulates at the end of the academic year while moving, according to a study.
Make the calculations and then consider how quickly these household items and supplies of bedrooms, plastic acts, glass or synthetic fabrics that take years to decompose naturally in landfills, contribute to the general problem of waste throughout the country.
But for a few days at the end of August, a program led by Students at the University of New York pointed to the dilemma, providing its student body with essential items through its first ‘exchange store’. The store gave access to gently used items that range from clothes, mirrors and lamps to bedroom furniture. free.
“I think it’s quite difficult to be a student, it’s expensive enough,” said Voluntary Student Hanin Amer.
In the course of a few days, more than 1,800 students appeared and had access to donated items, including about 155 microwave ovens. While they are not obliged to contribute anything to access the articles, they encouraged them to donate if possible.
Everything that remained when the dust settled were a couple of mini refrigerators, a pile of crutches and a handful of clothes.
Similar initiatives have been launched at the University of Colgate, Oberlin College and the University of Minnesota Duluth.
“Not all NYU students come from the same context, the same economic history, so there are many students and families that really appreciate initiatives such as the Swap store, because it is … relieving a lot of the stress that comes with higher education,” Amer added.
Nyu students learned about the emerging project through a Tiktok with almost a million views that brought a large multitude of treasures.
Cecil Scheib, Nyu’s sustainability director, said the ambitious project took months of planning.
“In spring and all summer, we were collecting items, cleaning them, classifying them, labeled and ready to give away. We have tens of thousands of pounds of items,” he said.
Scheib said that the whole concept is to divert the articles of the university bedroom that would have been sent directly to the landfills.
“Our generation was born in an anxious climate, knowing what previous generations have done,” said Amer.
She told NBC News a project like this shows that younger generations are “putting things in our own hands. And instead of turning it into an individual responsibility, it is a collective responsibility, it is the community.”
Belle Mbaezue, president of Future Fashion Club de Nyu and voluntary of the Swap store, has been leading sewing workshops and repair classes within the store to transmit sustainability skills to the student body.
She told NBC News that you expect this to be just the beginning. “We are looking to open it to the entire New York community … Sustainability is not just a person, it is everyone. So this was just a pilot project to prove the success of you and all operations,” he said.
“It was very good, and we are looking to have something more permanent. So, with that, we can open the community on weekends and have a month a day by community. We are already considering that,” Mbaezue added.
Scheib said that this expects this to send a message to both New York City and the rest of the country.
“There will be people who will look at this and say: ‘I see mountains of garbage. How can a small store make a difference?’ And my answer is that those mountains of garbage came from each of us making the decision that made sense at this time, ”he told NBC News.
“It is easy to throw it that finding a place to reuse it. We can get out of this problem in the same way that we all have to do our little part. People feel that their little part does not add, but.”
