At the end of every academic year when the students move off campus, they leave their unwanted lamps, clothes, couches, and other items from their dorm rooms. Instead of being placed in the trash, these items are donated to charities or sold to students in the fall the next year. This is RESCUE, a program that began in 2002 and stands for “Recycle Everything Save Colby’s Usable Excess.” This program, that all the students love, removes approximately 10 tons of waste from the waste stream each year. Directly after graduation, seniors must move out of their dorms and apartments, leaving many items that they have collected over four years of college. In the fall, other students buy these inexpensive items and complete the cycle of reusing products rather than throwing them away and purchasing new ones.
Colby’s RESCUE program is already a self-sustaining program that will continue during the Green Graduation. We will include more signs about RESCUE to increase awareness of ways that Colby promotes reusing materials. As students and guests return home, many individuals may be able to take this message and become more aware of the products they throw out each day. They may be able to see the value of some of these products, and instead of throwing them away, they may give them to someone else or make it into a new usable product. By demonstrating appreciation for reusing and recycling these items, Colby is using its RESCUE program to lead by example and to help guests understand the value of a product’s many potential uses. Green Graduation is an event that will help spread the message that the RESCUE program is already presenting. |
