What is Trash 2 Treasure?
Trash 2 Treasure (T2T) is a Sustainability Institute program powered by students with the mission of reducing unnecessary landfill waste and providing students with back-to-school savings. T2T is supported by paid student Core Team members and volunteers.
T2T’s main initiative is to run the spring move-out collection and fall move-in sale. Consequently, T2T significantly reduces trash removal costs for the University and provides families back-to-school savings at move-in weekend. The success of this social enterprise is achieved through strong student leadership and passionate, active volunteers who want to promote sustainability.
Trash 2 Treasure collects massive quantities of furniture and dorm items from students at the end of each school year to recycle or resell them at discounted prices the following fall at the move-in sale. Since its inception, T2T has saved students well over half a million dollars in back-to-school expenses and diverted over 174 tons of waste from entering landfills.
Applications for student Core Team members open in February for the spring collections and then again in June for the annual Fall Sale. Core Team members are required to stay on campus after finals and before the first day of classes.
Interested in volunteering? Follow us on UNH Serves for opportunities to get involved.
SPRING: Move-out collection opportunities:
- Applications for Core Team open in February
- Volunteering opportunities - check out UNH Serves
FALL: Fall Move-in Sale opportunities:
- Applications for Core Team open in June
- Volunteering opportunities - check out UNH Serves
QUESTIONS? Contact Kelsey.Farrell@unh.edu
FAQs
Our official collection period is in May from the first day of finals to the day after Commencement. Outside of that time, we do not have vehicles or volunteers available for collections.
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For ON-CAMPUS donations: Every residence hall and UNH-owned housing complex has a drop-off location in the lobby or nearby lounge. You will see signs and donation bins. If you cannot locate the drop-off location, ask your RA or Hall Director for assistance. We empty each location at least once daily during our collection period.
We accept everything that can be re-sold at the fall T2T Yard Sale. We also recycle old textiles and broken electronics..
- What we DO want:
- GENTLY USED ITEMS
- WASHED clothing and bedding
- WORKING electronics (please test!)
- CLEAN kitchenware and appliances
- Room decor
- Household items and appliances
- Sports/hobby equipment
- School/office supplies and books
- Storage bins/organizers
- We DO NOT accept:
- BROKEN ITEMS
- Stained or torn clothing
- Used personal hygiene items
- Trinkets (no one else wants that random small toy)
- Inappropriate or illegal items and substances
- Completed workbooks (tear out used pages of notebooks)
- Things you wouldn’t buy, examples:
- Personalized items
- Almost fully-burned candles
- Used art canvases
Unfortunately, T2T cannot collect from offices until the University-owned material has gone through USNH’s Surplus Property System. Please visit this link to learn more.
Live in UNH-owned Housing?
- Contact your RA or Hall Director. They can help!
Live OFF-Campus?
- Thanks for asking! If you live in Durham, we love to support the ECHO Thrift Shop a volunteer thrift shop in Durham, and Friends in Action, a nonprofit that creates inclusive social and recreational opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.
- If ECHO cannot take your items, we strongly support Goodwill. Goodwill has supported T2T for many years by donating bins for collections and also working with us to properly dispose of hard-to-recycle materials. There are Goodwill locations in Portsmouth NH and Somersworth NH.
- Furniture, if in really good condition, can go to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Newington, NH.
- Unfortunately, mattresses of all types and broken furniture need to be discarded through your town dump.
Volunteers get to experience the “behind-the-scenes” of this program (and get first dibs on all the cool stuff we find!). We can’t do this program without the hundreds of dedicated volunteers who make it possible.
The sale officially opens for free to the public during fall move-in. Check back for fall 2024 dates!
Negotiations & Returns:
Our prices are non-negotiable, which are already way below market price and we simply don’t have the volunteer capacity to negotiate on prices. All sales are final. Please carefully inspect all items before purchase. While we test all electronics over the summer, we cannot guarantee their durability.
Parking on campus during move-in weekend is EXTREMELY limited. This sale is intended primarily for UNH students, parents, and community members. Please visit the UNH Police website for updates, as all normal campus parking rules change during this specific weekend.
For large purchases, we can set them aside for you and mark them as sold for pick-up. We will take down your contact info and hold the items through the end of the day.
Delivery:
We do not currently offer delivery to anywhere on or off campus. You are responsible for being able to transport purchased items.
Yes! We strongly encourage you to reach out to PLAN - the Post-Landfill Action Network. They are a small non-profit with a staff of mostly recent graduates who are there to support students and staff with making this project happen on your campus. We have benefited tremendously over the years from their advice and expertise. They have a program guide to help you through the steps, as well as student leader trainings, workshops, toolkits and much more.
