Unwanted items at Iowa universities find new lives around the globe

IOWA CITY - Ever wonder what happens to those black-and-gold Iowa flags at Kinnick Stadium after they've been wind-whipped for the last time? Or Hawkeye football helmets after they've crashed into their final opponent?

Step inside the 'Hawkeye Room” at the University of Iowa surplus warehouse, where items at the end of their life for one person or department seek new life somewhere else.

Thousands upon thousands of items flow annually through the surplus systems on Iowa's public universities - from vehicles to gardening equipment, from mouse pads to mini-fridges.

Other university departments get first crack at the discarded equipment, typically at a discount rate that covers the surplus department's cost of picking up and delivering the items.

But anything passed over moves to public venues at the warehouse or online. The money they earn often goes to departments where the items originated.

The surplus systems help the universities by curtailing the need for new purchases and by generating revenue. UI surplus, for example, made $835,499 through sales in the 2016 budget year - up from $597,640 in the 2015 budget year, according to data provided to The Gazette.

The systems also help the environment by diverting material from the landfill. UI Surplus recycled 1.3 million pounds of electronics and metal last year.

Taking a broader view, university surplus sales benefit penny-pinching families and startup businesses across the state, nation and even world.

'It's a service to a lot of people,” said Joseph Hennager, who led the UI surplus unit for years before retiring in 2008. 'It allows businesses to get started at a much lower dollar.”

The UI surplus system has been a boon of late as many departments move from temporary digs to new buildings following massive renovations and rebuilds necessitated by the 2008 flood.

The university is looking to make the interdepartmental exchange of aging equipment and materials easier through a cloud-based swap system of sharing information across the campus.

'Within organizations, we move things around all the time,” said Debby Zumbach, UI assistant vice president and director of Purchasing and Business Services. 'But if the hospital has things the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences wasn't aware of, they can't exchange that well. We are trying to build a platform that makes that easier.”

Even if department sharing goes up, Zumbach said, she thinks plenty still will be available to the public - which includes a loyal following of regulars along with newcomers.

Global reach

At a sale in mid-January, a common sight appeared outside the UI surplus warehouse in Iowa City. A group of African nationals lined up early in hopes of snagging deals to ship home.

On that particular Saturday, Zumbach said, the surplus regulars bought - among other things - a broken hospital bed. Its mechanics didn't work, but the crew took the bed anyway and bought a container to ship it.

'If that bed hadn't been sold, it couldn't have been sold to another hospital here,” she said. 'But they can make it work for their needs.”

That global impact has a rich history within UI surplus, starting with former manager Hennager. He did a lot to expand the surplus unit's mission during his 30-plus years on campus.

'My goal was to try to reduce waste,” he said.

He prioritized the used equipment to campus departments, and then bargain hunters.

'After we filled every garage and every lab within a 50-mile radius, I began to sell it through the U.S. Embassy system to other countries,” Hennager said. 'We sold, over a course of 30-some years, to 17 countries.”

With help from organizations like the Jaycees and Doctors Without Borders, outdated UI equipment has supported medical clinics in places like Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

'On just about every continent - at some point - we had some kind of medical equipment,” Hennager said, adding, 'I have heard of a lab bench that went all the way to Siberia.”

Aim ‘not to throw anything away'

Iowa State University has a similarly busy surplus system, which generated in the 2016 budget year $770,800 from sales - up from $572,000 the previous year.

Norm Hill, ISU director of logistics and support services, said his department also has a broad customer base - including some who come from afar.

'We just had a guy from Kansas City who said he was selling copy machines in Mexico,” Hill said. 'And that's fine. It's his business.”

The universities take pains to maintain privacy. They don't sell copy machines with hard drives, for example, and clear the memories on other electronic devices.

In the last budget year, ISU's surplus unit diverted 74,000 pounds of electronic waste, up from 41,000 pounds in 2012. ISU also saved 605,000 pounds in scrap metal, up from 241,000 in the 2012 budget year.

'Our goal is not to throw anything away,” Hill said.

University items that don't get snagged by other campus departments or sold to the public at warehouse sales are pushed online, like at govdeals.com.

One of ISU's highest profile items now accepting online bids is the 2011 Cirrus SR22 that President Steven Leath, a pilot, decided to sell. He was roundly criticized for flying the university plane on trips that included personal business, even damaging it on one flight.

The sale is by sealed bid, closing April 6.

l Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com

IF YOU GO

UI surplus plans its next public sale from 9 a.m. to noon March 25. It's located at 2222 Old Highway 218 S in Iowa City.