Despite its small appearance, Portland State’s ReUse Room is making an impact on campus sustainability. In the last fiscal year, the ReUse Room diverted more than $46,000 worth of materials from landfills.
The ReUse Room is located in Cramer Hall, room 180 and is accessible during all university hours. There, students and faculty are welcome to donate unneeded items and take needed supplies.
“We invite anyone to take whatever they need and give whatever they don’t and prioritize reuse over buying something new for the environmental, economical and social benefits of reuse instead of buying something new,” said Thea Kindschuh, the ReUse Room coordinator at PSU.
The ReUse Room provides a constant cycle of materials because of the campus’ participation.
“I feel like reuse is a really simple and accessible way to make the sustainable choice,” said Kindschuh. “You reusing the item is diverting it from waste and making it into something of value.”
Kindschuh explained the next step for the ReUse Room will be determining the true extent of its sustainability impact.
“We figured the priority is to maximize reuse, the second priority is to get the numbers and metrics around it,” she said. “We’re working on giving it an associated greenhouse gas emissions value, so if everyone had bought all of those things new, this would impact the carbon footprint.”
“It’s a great city for reuse too,” Kindschuh said. “There’s already a culture of reuse in Portland, and it’s great that we can capitalize that and expand upon it at [PSU].”
More information is available at the PSU ReUse Room Facebook page at facebook.com/psureuseroom.