More than Two Tons in Collected Items Represents Significant Increase from Previous Year
UMass Dartmouth's Green Move Out program, made up of a team of 15 students, worked diligently throughout UMass Dartmouth's Residence Halls to collect donated items during the University's Finals Week and Commencement ceremonies. The group successfully collected 4,300 pounds of clothing, books, DVDs, unopened food, household goods, electronics and appliances, which were donated to People Acting In Community Endeavors (PACE Inc.) and the American Red Cross.
"UMass Dartmouth is committed to enforcing the waste bans established in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and has an active recycling program diverting paper, cardboard, metal, glass and plastic from going into the landfill." said Assistant Director for UMass Dartmouth's Campus Sustainability and Residential Initiatives Jamie Jacquart.
This year's donations were a significant increase compared to the 1200 pounds that were donated last year. In addition to the donations, an entire truckload of broken and unwanted electronics was donated to an electronic recycling center. Next year, the Green Move Out committee hopes to expand the program and find ways to more easily capture the volume of donated items and move the donated items to a central receiving area.
The Green Move Out program was established as part of UMass Dartmouth's sustainability efforts to continue to support an environmentally friendly campus. The program committee launched this year's program with the "Don't Feed the Trash Monster" campaign, which motivated students to donate their belongings at the end of the year.
UMass Dartmouth's strong commitment to the environment and sustainable practices was recently profiled in the fifth annual edition of The Princeton Review's free downloadable book, "The Princeton Review's Guide to 332 Green Colleges". Schools were chosen based on a 2013 survey of administrators at hundreds of four-year colleges to measure the schools' commitment to the environment and to sustainability. Among the highlights were the University's 20 percent carbon emission reduction since 2008 and the renovation and expansion of the LEED Silver Claire T. Carney Library.