Bowling Green State University Re-Store
The Re-Store at Bowling Green State University in Ohio promotes the idea of reusing what students already have instead of buying new. Customers can hold their cash; the entire store is free.
Bowling Green State University Re-Store from Black Swamp Journal on Vimeo.
The Re-Store at BGSU is getting students to remember the three R’s of conservation: reduce, reuse and recycle. The store, located in residence hall Kreischer Compton-Darrow, is completely run on donations. Customers can get goods three ways:
- Swapping an item they already have for something in the store;
- Giving a cash donation and getting a good in exchange;
- Or simply taking some of the store’s free books and folders.
The store was a concept created by BGSU Sustainability Coordinator Nick Hennessy’s and his interns. Other universities have similar programs. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the program Surplus with a Purpose is similar to the Re-Store. The program repurposes the university’s surplus goods. All items are redistributed to non-profit agencies or sold to the public.
At BGSU, the store receives the majority of its donations from the “When you Move Out Don’t Throw it Out,” program. Bins are placed in residence halls, where students can donate items they no longer want. At the end of the school year Re-Store workers collect materials from the bins, clean them and place them on Re-store shelves for customers to exchange.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitors how much municipal solid waste is produced every year. According to the EPA in 2009 Americans produced 243 million tons of municipal solid waste. Visit the EPA’s website to learn more about household goods that can be recycled.
