MTU Drop-N-Shop offers recycling, bargain purchases Apr. 29-30

By Bronwynn Kelly, Heather Wright, and Shalini Suryanarayana

HOUGHTON -- As people begin their yearly spring cleaning and as Michigan Tech students begin to move out of the residence halls, many will discover they have accumulated items they no longer want or they simply cannot fit into their car. To encourage the reuse of these gently used items, the Students for Environmental Sustainability (SfES) and Michigan Tech Residence Life have partnered together to organize this year’s Drop-N-Shop events that will take place on Tuesday, Apr. 29, and Wednesday, Apr. 30, at four locations on Michigan Tech’s campus:

1. DHH Loading Dock, 2 p. m. - 3 p. m.
2. McNair Loading Dock, 3 p.m. - 4 p. m.
3. Wads Loading Dock, 4 p.m. - 5 p. m.
4. MUB Circle, Noon - 5 p. m. (featuring the On-the-Spot Drop-N-Shop events). This location is for off-campus students, faculty, staff, and community members.

On Tuesday, Apr. 29, Tim Beach, right, MTU student in computer science and a volunteer for MTU's Circle K service organization, shows some bargain items to Chee Huei Lee, MTU graduate student in physics, who is from Malaysia. The Drop-N-Shop continues through Apr. 30. (Photo © 2008 Michele Bourdieu)

Each year millions of tons of garbage are landfilled; and this number continues to increase as our society moves towards more disposable, one-use products. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2006, residents, businesses and institutions produced more than 251 million tons of municipal solid waste. That means each person in the US produced approximately 4.6 pounds of waste per day! That is up from 3.3 pounds per person per day in the 1970s.

MTU's Drop-N-Shop includes practical bargain items like this dry erase board. (Photos courtesy Heather Wright)

Fortunately, there are many ways that individuals can reduce their waste generation: Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. However, of the 3 Rs, reducing and reusing offer the greatest benefits, both financially and environmentally. Reducing the amount of "stuff" we consume every day has a direct impact on the planet and can greatly reduce our ecological footprint. The second R, reusing, also reduces waste, while supporting a productive economy and allowing individuals to sustain their same quality of life. Specifically, reuse creates less air and water pollution than making a new item or recycling, results in less hazardous waste and can generate new business and employment opportunities.*

"Gently used" items like these windbreakers, which can be recycled and reused, will be available for bargain prices on the MTU campus during the Drop-N-Shop Apr. 29-30. (Photo courtesy Heather Wright)

Yet recycling is a far better option than sending items to the landfill. In 2006, recycling (including composting) diverted 82 million tons of material away from the landfill, which was up from 15 million tons in 1980.**

Drop-N-Shop was created as a way to help facilitate the reuse of items typically discarded as a result of the annual departure of students each spring. The MUB location will feature the On-the-Spot Drop-N-Shop event. This On-the-Spot event is new this year and will allow individuals to drop off their gently used items and also to shop among the donated items. Items can be purchased for a small donation, and all proceeds will go to support Earth Week events.

For a list of acceptable and unacceptable items, please visit our website, http://www.esc.mtu.edu/SFES/Default.htm. All items remaining at the end of each day will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul.

Notes:
*Annie B. Bond (1999): "Why Reuse Beats Recycling." See http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-reuse-beats-recycling.html.

** US EPA (2008): "Municipal Solid Waste." See http://epa.gov/garbage/facts.htm.

Editor's Note: Co-authors of this article Bronwynn Kelly and Heather Wright are members of MTU's Students for Environmental Sustainability (SfES), and Shalini Suryanarayana is chair of MTU's Environmental Sustainability Committee.