I got a phone call from housing services yesterday at lunch; they had a HUGE clean-up to do, and there were going to be things which we could give at the first Free Store. When I got there, it was like a second Dump and Run: a classroom was filled with all sorts of stuff left behind by students living in the Brooks apartment residences; jackets, pots and pans (you know some 50$ pans, and some 100$ sweaters…), electronics, books, jeans, canned food, etc.
(STUDENTS: WHAT ARE YOU DOING THROWING ALL THIS STUFF OUT?! STOP BUYING!)
To put you into perspective, during move-in/move-out weekends, residences cleaning staff are not given permission to sort recyclables and reusable items, and we are usually stuck trying to drag all these items out of the huge 20-yard waste bins outside residences (and they are usually covered in beer, and other things I would rather not know!).
But this week end, while cleaning out the residences, Housing Services staff collected all the items left behind which were in good condition, and put them in a class room for us to collect. We saved over a metric tonne of stuff from going into landfill; that is just awesome! Score 10 points for the housing team!
-brigitte