Move Out Made Easy with Donation and Recycling

For students, the end of the school year is fast approaching, and before you know it you’ll be faced with the reality of how much stuff you’ve amassed over the last nine months. Donation and recycling options on campus and in Evanston make it easy to lighten your load while minimizing the amount of trash you generate.

Each June the Office of Sustainability coordinates the Take It or Leave It program providing on-campus students with an easy way to purge before you pack. From June 3 through 13, in partnership with Goodwill, boxes will be placed in all residence halls for the collection of clothing, linens, household items, and food. Simply leave items you don’t plan to take with you, and if you see something you could use, take it! At the end of move out, the collected items will be donated to local charities. Nearly 10,000 pounds of goods are donated annually through this program.

If you live off campus, you can give items away using Craigslist or Evanston Freecycle. Some charity groups, such as the Brown Elephant, Salvation Army, and Amvets will pick up donations. When going with this option, be sure to schedule your pickup in advance. 

And of course, please remember to recycle when moving out. As always, paper, plastic, glass, and cans are collected in campus recycling bins. If you have old electronics that need to be recycled, you can take them to the WildCARD office at any time during the year. During finals week additional collection boxes will be placed in the lobbies of Allison, Elder, Foster-Walker, Sargent, 1835 Hinman, Engelhart, McManus, and Willard. You can use these bins to recycle computers, cell phones, TVs, speakers, printers, and more. Check out the full list of what is recyclable on Northwestern’s campus. If you live off campus, review the Evanston recycling guidelines.

Selling your textbooks back at Norris is another way to lighten your load, support textbook reuse, and get some cash in the process. Using your campus bookstore reduces the environmental impact by keeping books on campus and avoids the need to ship them across the country for redistribution. 

Please keep these things in mind as you pack up and head out for the summer.