UI drive directs items to Goodwill, not to landfill

IOWA CITY - Some University of Iowa students hope to save 20,000 pounds of clothing, furniture and televisions from the landfill this week.

UI Residence Halls hosted a move-out donation drive for Goodwill and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Wednesday and Thursday, as thousands of students took their leave from the dorms for the year.

The purpose of the drive was to get students to donate the items they might otherwise toss into the dumpster, to divert the stuff from the landfill.

It started as Andrea Uhl's class project idea. Uhl, 22, a graduating senior in economics with a certificate in sustainability, remembers when she moved out of the dorms in past years, seeing things like shelves, furniture and futons in the dumpster.

“I pulled my bedside table out of there one year,” Uhl said. “When they move out they realize they can't fit all their stuff inside their parents' car and they put it in the dumpster.”

Uhl's sustainability class idea got the support of the UI Environmental Coalition, ECO Hawk, UI Office of Sustainability, Goodwill of the Heartland, City of Iowa City and Habitat ReStore. UI and Goodwill officials said they hope to make it an annual event.

“Many of the donated items I've seen have looked barely used, almost new, so we're really happy about that,” Brent Watkins,  marketing specialist with Goodwill of the Heartland, said.

Goodwill will do a similar event with Cornell College later this month and will look for more colleges to host donation days next year, Watkins said.

Students dropped by throughout the day to donate microwaves, televisions, couches, chairs, bags of clothes and boxes of books. All items will go to Goodwill except for appliances, such as microwaves and mini-refrigerators, which will go to Habitat's ReStore in Iowa City.

Graduating senior Mallory Perkins, 20, donated two boxes of clothes, shoes and office supplies. Perkins said she was “purging” in preparation for her move to Colorado for graduate school.

“It's deciding what doesn't need to make the trip with me,” she said. “But it's still good stuff. I didn't want to just throw it away.”

The 24-foot Goodwill trailer was parked on the west side of campus Wednesday and on the east side, in front of Burge Residence Hall, Thursday.

The aim was to gather 20,000 pounds of materials. They collected 2,000 on the first day, though Thursday was expected to be much busier as student move-out picked up, Uhl said.