The Wartburg College REUSED store is a way for students, faculty, and staff to participate in sustainability on campus. It is a place to get and donate used school and office supplies year-round. All supplies in the store are free to encourage reusing materials to cut down on waste.
“By having a REUSED store on campus, it promotes second hand buying and donating unwanted items instead of throwing away things. Buying second hand and donating unwanted things is one of the many ways people can practice sustainable living,” says Ariel Hall, student manager for the Sustainability Department at Wartburg College. The REUSED store “encourages students to think about how the decisions they are making today affect the environment of their tomorrow. Preparing our students for their future, regardless of major or job choice is something Wartburg strives to do–especially when preparing students to care for their environment after graduation.”
The REUSED store has been around since the beginning of the sustainability program at Wartburg College. Hall says that it would not be very hard to set up a program like this at other schools. She suggests starting by getting students to donate used materials on campus. From there, it’s all about advertising to the community and getting students to donate and shop for REUSED supplies.
Learn more about Wartburg College’s Sustainability Office and REUSED store.