Posted on April 21: Students, residents reuse items and reduce waste

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/DNswaporama.jpg” caption=”Greg Chadwick”]

As spring approaches the buds will bloom, the sun will get warmer, and inevitably students will move out. With move-out comes unwanted, yet reusable, household goods.

In 2001, the McMaster Students Union Environment Committee organized an event called Dump & Run to decrease the number of reusable items that are sent to the dump by the campus community during the student move-out in April and May. In 2004, the Environmental Committee has been renamed to MACgreen, and the Dump & Run has become Swap-O-Rama.

During Swap-O-Rama, which runs from Friday, April 23 to Sunday, April 25, students and residents in the areas surrounding McMaster University are encouraged to put out reusable items that they no longer use that could benefit someone else. Other students and residents are then encouraged to prowl the streets of West Hamilton, taking items that they need.

“The Swap-O-Rama provides a method of exchanging and passing on potentially useful old things that students and residents no longer want,” explains Justin Grenier, events co-ordinator for MACgreen. “People can put out everything from furniture to utensils. The only requirement is that items have to be able to be used again.”

Grenier and the Swap-O-Rama organizing committee hope that students will pack up their items earlier this year, and thereby decide in advance what furniture and reusable items they could put at the curb for others to use.

And for the treasures that are not swapped right away, a number of local groups have also expressed interest in coming to pick-up used items.

Swap-O-Rama is built around the idea that items that are reusable should not be wasted, which should help the City to minimize the amount of waste that goes to the landfill. Therefore, Hamilton waste management will be doing as few bulk pick-ups as possible. Says Grenier, “Optimally, the event creates no garbage.”

There will be a bulk pick up on the morning of Monday, April 26 to take away unclaimed items in the L8S area code. However, the City emphasizes that garbage will not be taken this year. A maximum of eight reusable items per household is allowed.

For more information or to volunteer for Swap-O-Rama, visit www-msu.mcmaster.ca/macgreen/swaporama.php or email enviro@msu.mcmaster.ca.