It’s almost summer. Lilacs are blooming, birds are singing… and college students are moving back home, leaving behind a lot of stuff.
The Move Out Project, a local initiative in the Binghamton area that redistributes college students’ unwanted items, is trying to cut down on the waste. Since 2021, volunteers say they have redistributed over 46,000 pounds of unwanted items.
In 2018, Christina Fuller was a junior at Binghamton University. She saw how much waste comes from college moving days. But there were not many options for off-campus students hoping to donate their unwanted items easily.
“I basically printed out flyers and I roped in some of my friends, and we drove around in my Subaru Forester and we picked up items from students,” Fuller said. “And I think we ended up picking up from over 100 students that year.”
That was the start of the Move Out Project. Every year, volunteers collect all those items college students can’t take with them when they head back home, and then pass them along to local nonprofits.
The project started with Fuller and others sorting through all the donations in her college apartment. Six years later, it has expanded.
On Tuesday morning, volunteers bustled in and out of a big warehouse building, loading up vans with donations and hoping the rain would stay away.
Volunteers sort all the items that come into categories and weigh each item individually so they know how many pounds they collect each year. Then the items are placed on tables in the warehouse and broken into smaller categories, such as bedding, towels, blankets and small appliances.
“The clothing, and anything else that looks broken or stained, we discard,” volunteer Kathy Harasta said. “Appliances, everything that gets plugged in has been checked to make sure it works. And refrigerators and microwaves have been cleaned out.”
This year they sorted, cleaned and weighed over 19,000 pounds of furniture, clothes and appliances.
“Nineteen-thousand pounds that have not only been diverted from the landfill, but will be used by this local community,” Harasta said. “Every single item is being picked up and donated. It's just a win-win situation. It’s fantastic.”
Local nonprofits sign up for slots to come and pick out items. This year, over 40 community organizations signed up for the project’s two “shopping days”.
The volunteers said they have nonprofits come in-person to pick out items because the organizations usually know exactly what they need to get for clients.
“I had a lady today telling me that she has someone who's been in a homeless shelter and is getting her first apartment,” Mary Ellen Bronson, another volunteer, said. “So she was getting all kinds of things, all the houseware and refrigerators and linens.”
The volunteers even collect unwanted caps and gowns from graduation for reuse, as well as university-branded sweatshirts and hats to give to new students in the fall.
Bronson said the project also helps bolster the relationship between students and residents.
“I wish the students could see what an impact they're making on the community, because it's amazing,” she said.