There’s really no way to know why students left certain items in the residence halls when they moved. But no matter why students leave futons, working televisions, blenders, coffee makers, clothes and linens, it is all good news for the future of the Pittsburg State University Committee for Energy Resource and Conservation.
The UCERC is hosting Move Out Madness this weekend, and kicked the event off Friday evening. The event will continue today from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the SEK Recycling Center.
Organizers said the event is an opportunity to resell and reuse the items, big and small, that students leave behind in the residence halls at the end of the semester. The remainder of Move Out Madness consists of items donated by faculty.
“This is about 50 percent stuff we had in the dorms,” said Dr. Jim Triplett, member of the UCERC.
“You wouldn’t believe the people we had in the first half hour [on Friday]. There were 20 people standing out in front before it opened.”
There were plenty of surprise items for sale on Friday night that went quickly. A working 44” television that sold for $30 was gone in mere minutes. Most of the four to five futons available were gone in the first half hour.
That’s a significant change for Pittsburg State, who used to just throw out the items left behind.
“Our main idea in starting this is that we found over the years that lots of students were throwing away items in the Dumpsters when they left,” said Jon Bartlow, UCERC chairman. “These were perfectly good items, and we’d have to call the trash company for pick-ups. That cost us money.”
Although the prices at the Move Out Madness are extremely low, the UCERC still raised $800 in the event’s first year, last year. This year, there was more than 50 percent more items to help raise money, too.
“We will use the money off this to buy recycling containers for campus,” Triplett said. “Those will be for bottles and paper bins. But we also think that the best way to recycle is to reuse. This stuff would have just gone to the landfill. This conserves resources. It cost resources and energy to make these items. If we conserve these items, it saves all of those things.”
There was plenty to choose from on Friday evening. Ever thought about an Emmitt Thomas poster?
Or how about a working blender for piddling amounts? What about a new mirror?
“It’s dirty stuff, but it’s good stuff,” Bartlow said. “Anything we have left over, we’ll see if there is anything local charities will take.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
PITTSBURG —
