Two of Princeton University's Office of Sustainability initiatives have effectively redirected a significant amount of waste from entering and crowding landfills.
According to the school's press release, over 6,000 pounds of clothing and other household items, as well as over 6,000 pounds of food waste, were diverted from landfills this year.
The first of the two initiatives — Princeton's Greening Moving Out initiative — is an annual donation event that takes place during move-out week. Students can offload unwanted, but still usable, household items like couches, fridges, mirrors, chairs, and rugs for free. These items are stored in an off-campus warehouse for cleaning and organizing, where volunteers prepare the items for a second home.
Local nonprofits are given preference over donated items, which are then redistributed to families and local communities in need. The remaining items go up for sale in the annual Move-In Resale event that happens at the beginning of the semester, giving students the opportunity to buy any household necessities at a lower cost.
Per Princeton's press release, this event was held for the third year in a row, receiving many donations — 6,175 pounds of clothing, 52 couches, 43 refrigerators, 34 chairs, 104 mirrors, and 41 rugs.
The second sustainability initiative — composting at Reunions — targets food waste and recycling during large-scale meal events like the school's annual reunions. This year, Reunions took place over three days and saw over 30,000 attendees, per Princeton's press release.
Princeton University's Ecology Representative Program played a key role in managing compost stations during the Reunions, which helped effectively divert over 6,000 pounds of food waste across three days from entering the landfills.
The initiative also recorded 127,146 Earth Cups recycled, with contamination rates in the Earth Cup bins down from 31.7% to 16.5%, indicating the attendees' growing participation in campus sustainability initiatives.
Both sustainability initiatives help reduce unnecessary waste in landfills.
Reducing food waste in landfill sites reduces landfill gas — mostly methane and carbon dioxide — that is released by decomposing organic material. However, excessive food waste must be addressed before the food becomes waste, improving food security for communities and protecting resources used to produce the food.
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Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to recycle old clothes and electronics?
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Giving me money back 💰 For example, making the most of your leftovers and following food safety guidelines to keep your groceries fresh for longer can help reduce the amount of food you need to throw out.
Some companies are tackling food waste by turning it into something useful. Massachusetts-based Divert, for example, is working to convert food waste into energy.
On the other hand, Princeton's household donation event allows unwanted but still usable items, such as couches, to go to a second home, serving communities and students in need.
"When we work together, anything is possible," said Matt Brinn, coordinator of Greening Move Out, per Princeton's press release.
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