ReUSE

Campus Materials Exchange

ReUSE News:

May 2009 Moveout is here!

Reader Bins are in the following locations: Unit 1, 2 and 3 dorms by the elevators, Foothill mailroom above the dining commons, Clark Kerr mailroom in Building 1, Moffitt Library entrance, MLK Heller Lounge

Clothing Drives are taking place in all of the dorms

How to: place the clothing in a plastic trash bag and take to nearest location

Locations: in the rec rooms of the Units, in the laundry rooms of Clark Kerr and in the rec room in Foothill

If your dorm does not have a rec room, please bag your clothing and put it neatly in the lobby 

 

What is ReUSE?

ReUSE is a UC Berkeley program that functions to foster the spirit of reusing materials rather than throwing them away. In today's disposable consumer society, it's hard to reuse things without a system in place, so ReUSE tries to create that system. We do this by making spaces on campus where students, faculty and staff can freely exchange reusable goods.

These spaces, called ReUSE stations, are shelving units placed in buildings where reuseable materials can be donated and picked up for free. These items generally include school and office supplies, books, games, trinkets, one side clean paper and art supplies, just to name a few.

In addition to placing our stations in an increasing number of campus buildings, ReUSE holds events during the year to save even larger amounts of material from the landfill. These events include our beginning of the semester Reader Give Away, our yearly Second Chance Clothing Sale and various tabling activities at campus green events.

Why reuse?

Free Stuff!

 

Saves $$$

Less garbage in landfills

It's an adventure

Fewer manufactured products=fewer resources used, fewer emissions and energy used

 

 

 

These days, everyone seems to know about recycling. Often it is mistakenly seen as the best environmental solution to trash. But recycling is not the only answer to waste, nor is it the best.

The order of waste diversion, called the waste hierarchy, starts with reduction, which is to cut off waste at the source by producing less packaging and fewer items. After this, the hierarchy moves down to reuse, which is using items again for their intended purpose. Though this does not avoid the creation of waste, it cuts down on the amount produced. Also, reuse saves the "embodied energy" of a product, the energy that has already been put in that the item represents. The lowest on the waste hierarchy is recycling, in which items are broken down to create raw materials again. This puts material back into the production stream, rather than harvesting new material, but requires more energy input than reuse.