Duvets to dishes, trousers to Twister

written by Esmi Freeman on June 25, 2010

The end-of-term exodus from student accommodation highlights our  throw-away attitude to resources . The Freeshop project is trying to do something practical to change this.

If you’ve been an Edinburgh undergrad, you’ll most likely have stayed in some of the University’s accommodation and you’ll remember the atmosphere well. It’s generally lively, strange items and fancy dress appear and disappear on nights out and by the end of the year you seem to have doubled your own possessions from the not inconsiderable quantity that your parents dropped you off with.

But where does all this stuff go once the charm of an illuminating head band, inflatable witches’ hat or plastic banana slicer wears off? You can’t drag it around with you for the rest of your life, can you?

So, many of these things go straight in the bin. It’s easy to do – you can forget about them the minute the lid clangs down on them. However, they’re not so forgettable for the people who live next to the landfill site they’ll end up in, or the islands they wash up on.

There is another way

In recent years, students and staff at the University of Edinburgh have set up a win-win system where the unwanted ‘stuff’ from university accommodation is saved from landfill and then re-used by next year’s Freshers.  Students departing their accommodation leave behind bags of items (anything from duvets to dishes, trousers to Twister sets). They are then sorted by volunteers, stored over the summer and then set out before Freshers in a massive ‘free shop’. This way we avoid repetitive buying every September and save students money in the process. It’s not just plates and sheets too: this year’s sorting uncovered tiaras and feather boas, unused designer dresses and a whole wardrobe of fancy dress costumes.

Tricky electrical items like TVs, hairdryers and toasters, as well as more than a corridor full of used duvets are sent off to local homeless charity Fresh Start, which makes up packs of household items for previously homeless people who are moving into a new flat.

The quantity of stuff collected – well over 3 tonnes this year and last – does make it hard to believe the oft-heard student pleas of poverty. Clearly they can afford a lot of dispensable things. Of course students should have fun, but when it’s all piled together it’s uncertain when fun becomes frivolous.

Maybe we should see this as a demonstration of widespread student generosity. The project in Edinburgh is among the first of its kind, but across the UK and beyond similar projects are popping up. St Andrews’ University has set up a  “St-AndRe-Use” project and over the pond, Ohio State University has set up a “Dump and Run” project and Brandeis University has a ‘Give and Go’ initiative on the go this year.

The UK has over 325 universities and the city of Edinburgh alone has over 50,000 students. UoE houses most of its own 6,500 first years, as well as lots of postgraduates. Considering these numbers, this project barely makes a dent in what must be a UK-wide annual flow of perfectly useable items to landfill. As wonderful as our re-use project is, it is still a shame that so much stuff is passed on with less than a year’s use. If transition is about moving from an oil dependent to a self sufficient society, reduction in consumption is a must. Clearly though, all of us can also gain a lot by sharing the things we no longer use with others who might find them the greatest treasures.

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