MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — It's that time of year where college students move out of the dorms. However, many find that they have too much to bring home.
Folks at Georgia College are dealing with those leftovers and turning one man's trash into another man's treasure.
Environmental Science major Molly Robbins is doing some heavy lifting at the dorms. She's picking up a futon someone's left behind.
"We ask students to put out all of their furniture, their nonperishable foods, and any clothing,” she says.
It's all for the "Dodge the Dump" event the college's Office of Sustainability has been doing since 2017. They say they collect an average of 300 items a year.
"It's so discouraging to me when I see or have seen students just throw away things that people would use,” Robbins explains.
That's anything from school supplies to microwaves.
Instead of sending perfectly good items to a landfill, Robbins says they want to fill people's homes.
“We send it back to community partners who can then give it back to people who are in need, and we're not putting all the furniture into landfills where it'll just sit, create greenhouse gas emissions, and take up a whole bunch of space,” she says.
The Life Enrichment Center's Barbra Coleman says they're one of the charities participating.
She says the program kills two birds with one stone.
“It's all about paying it forward. Not only are we helping to recycle and repurpose things,” Coleman says, “They're helping individuals who may not have that. They may need those bed linens, they may need those school supplies. There's a lot of need in our community!”
We caught some students moving out of the dorms who have a lot of stuff on their hands, like special education major, Cora Blackfort.
“It's kind of accumulated over time. Brought more and more stuff in,” she laughs.
Business Management major Murray Deen agrees.
You go and shop and whatnot, and just get more and more.”
They said they don’t have any items to donate, but they say the program is a good idea.
“I think it’s a great idea just to help people who might not be able to afford some stuff,” says Deen.
“I think a lot of the stuff goes to waste and gets thrown away, so I think it's good to give people the option to reuse it,” says Blackfort.
Students finish moving out Friday, so if you'd like to donate something, there are designated places in each dorm.
Charities, like the Life Enrichment Center and Milledgeville Cares, will come to pick up the items on Friday to distribute to people in Milledgeville who need them.