UA News

The UA's Residence Life unit is collecting clothing, furniture and food items as University students prepare to leave campus for the summer. Items will be donated to two local organizations.

With the spring semester coming to a close, University of Arizona students vacating their residence halls are being asked to donate any usable items they are not planning to take along with them.

Residence Life, the UA unit responsible for more than 20 residence halls the University maintains, has placed collection bins inside its residence halls.

The unit is collecting books, furniture, unopened cleaning supplies, lamps, computers, monitors, printers, school and office supplies, unopened toiletry products and detergent, and other items. The unit, however, is not collecting mirrors, mattress pads and certain opened items. 

"We want to reduce the amount of items going into the landfill and to be able to reuse items that can be reused," said Liz Zavodsky, Residence Life's coordinator of sustainability education.

Also, trailers for collecting furniture will be placed south of the Apache and Santa Cruz halls and between the Arizona-Sonora and Coronado residence halls on May 6. They will remain there until May 16.

Students are free to leave futons, couches and large chairs at those locations.

"Instead of having our students just throw all of these items away in the dumpsters that we provide we ask them to donate what they no longer want but that can be reused," she said.

The drive is part of the UA's sustainability effort.

Residence Life is partnering with the Salvation Army-Tucson and the Tucson Community Food Bank, providing both organizations with material donated by UA students. Zavodsky said that given the current economic situation, both organizations are in dire need of more donations.

Last year, Residence Life collected and donated about 4,000 pounds of food and more than 9,600 pounds of clothing and shoes. Also, last year's items included more than 100 microwaves donated from Coronado Residence Hall alone, Zavodsky said.

"It was a great success. These items go directly back to members of the Tucson community who are in need," she said, adding that Residence Life has been running the collection and donation project for more than five years.

"Packing can be overwhelming, but we want to get students in the frame of spring cleaning," Zavodsky said.

"We're such a disposable society. We don't necessarily think, ‘Someone else can use this,'" she added. "Just because you don't want it anymore doesn't mean it should go into the trash. Don't just throw things away. Please let somebody else benefit from it."