10
Celebrating 10 years of reducing waste at UNH
.5M
Saved students over $.5M in back-to-school expenses
170
Over 170 tons of waste diverted from landfills
Trash 2 Treasure (T2T) is a Sustainability Institute program powered by students with the mission of assisting students, UNH and the local community in reducing waste. T2T’s main initiative is to run the annual spring move-out collection and fall Move-in weekend sale, significantly reducing unnecessary landfill waste and providing families with back-to-school savings. The success of T2T is achieved through strong student leadership and passionate, active volunteers who want to promote sustainability. T2T collects massive quantities of furniture and dorm items from students at the end of each school year to recycle or resell at discounted prices the following fall. Since its inception, T2T has saved students over half a million dollars in back-to-school expenses and diverted over 174 tons of waste from entering landfills.
Help UNH move out sustainably in Spring 2023!
JOIN THE CORE TEAM:
T2T Core Team Members are paid ($13.05 hr) leaders of the Trash 2 Treasure program. Core team members coordinate volunteer groups and drive trucks during move out week May 15 -May 22, 2023. Core team members are responsible for attending necessary trainings as well as staying on campus past move out date ( paid for by the Sustainability Institute) .
Core Team Hiring: January-March
Volunteer and Core Team Training: April
Collections: May 15 - May 22, 2023
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 needs 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.
VOLUNTEER SPRING 2023
Shifts to volunteer during collections will be released in April. Until then, join our UNH Serves group to receive updates about opportunities.
The sale typically officially opens for free to the public at 10am on Friday of move-in weekend
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. Please test them yourself at our plug-in stations at the sale before you leave.
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. Check out all they have to offer here!
