UNH Students Turn Trash to Treasure at Massive Yard Sale Aug. 26 – 28

Newswise — DURHAM, N.H. – Incoming first-years and students returning to the University of New Hampshire can furnish their rooms and apartments on the cheap and help the environment this fall, thanks to the efforts of a new student-led initiative. The project, called Trash 2 Treasure, collected more than 10,000 items discarded by students moving out in May; items will be sold at a huge three-day yard sale on the UNH campus during student move-in weekend.

• Trash 2 Treasure yard sale

• Friday, Aug. 26, 2011, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 27, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 28, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. (UNH move-in weekend)

• Scott Hall Lawn, across from Thompson Hall on Main Street in Durham

• Approximately 57,000 pounds of electronics, furniture, rugs, kitchen, school and cleaning supplies, decorative accessories, clothing, and more, sold beneath a 6,500 square-foot tent

• Parking is extremely limited; shoppers are encouraged not to drive and delivery service for larger items will be available

Possibly the first student-led, self-funding initiative of its kind in the country, Trash 2 Treasure, or T2T, has been developing since May 2010. In May 2011 the group created numerous drop-off locations for students and organized dozens of volunteers to collect, sort, clean, and store the items during the summer. They raised funding for collection trucks, storage trailers, and yard sale supplies and plan to use yard sale revenue to sustain the program for years to come. The UNH Parents Foundation supported them with a $4,000 grant.

With some of their revenue, organizers will explore the possibility of spreading the program elsewhere. ‘The model we have created can be replicated at any university across the country,” says UNH sophomore Emily Spognardi, who is steering the project with junior Alex Freid.

“If T2T had not stepped in, all of these perfectly reusable college dorm and apartment accessories would have gone directly into a landfill,” says Freid. “It’s our hope that the sale will encourage students to think sustainably about the purchases they make and to open their eyes to just how much stuff we really throw away.”

More information is available www.unh.edu/trash2treasure; www.facebook.com/unhtrash2treasure; orwww.twitter.com/unht2t. Read about the project in UNH Magazine: http://unhmagazine.unh.edu/sp11/trash2treasure.html.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,200 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students.

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