The Program
ReUSE is a student-run program dedicated to promoting the reuse of materials on the UC Berkeley campus.
We primarily promote the reuse spirit by providing spaces for the campus community to freely exchange reusable goods. Our ReUSE Stations consist of shelving units placed in buildings where campus members donate and pick up reusable materials. Items vary from office supplies, books, games, trinkets, one side clean paper, and much more.
For those with bigger items, difficult schedules, or specific needs, we now sponsor an online forum for exchange, housed at exchange.berkeley.edu .
In addition to creating permanent spaces for free-exchanges, ReUSE hosts events to divert even larger amounts from the landfill. 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
- Fewer manufactured items = fewer resources used, and fewer emission
- It’s an adventure
Reusing versus Recycling
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, or “the waste hierarchy,” starts with reduction, which is to cut off waste at the source by producing less packaging and fewer items. The next step is reuse, which is using items again for their intended purpose. Reuse cuts down on the amount of waste produced and savors the “embodied energy” of a product (the energy that has already been put into producing the item). 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, but requires more energy input than reuse.
