Ecologue

Volunteers stood around a large table, sorting through the items left to charity by the students on campus. More donations rolled forward in orange carts, slightly damp from the heavy rain outside. Filling the carts to the brim, the donations came in many different states: from fresh unopened food, to well-worn shoes and dusty rugs.

In total, 25,979 pounds of donations were collected, far surpassing both the 20,122 pounds collected in 2012, and this year’s goal of 22,000 pounds.

The donations broke down into the following categories:

• 8,922 pounds of housewares
• 2,517 pounds of food, toiletries, and school supplies
• 7,283 pounds of clothing, linens, and shoes
• 7,081 pounds of reusable wood
• 269 pounds in e-waste (not counted in donation total because it was recycled)

Each of the categories, except for e-waste, experienced an increase in comparison to the previous year:

While a portion of the donations were given to the OSUsed Store in order to cover the costs of the donation drive itself, a majority of the materials found new homes at non-profit organizations, such as the Chintimini Wildlife Center, the Jackson Street Youth Shelter, and the Linn Benton Food Share.

Each year, the Donation Drive is coordinated by OSU Campus Recycling, Surplus Property, and University Housing and Dining. This year, we had the help of 30 volunteers who assisted by sorting the donations and helping pick them up from the halls.

Campus Recycling would like to give a big thank you to all of the students who gave donations to the drive, as well as all of our volunteers who helped on the receiving end of the donations. We’d also like to thank UHDS for distributing the materials, helping with planning, and coordinating well with us.

Be sure to check out photos from the event on Facebook.

Additional information about move-out, including the results from previous years, may be found on our website.