Discarded furniture from Binghamton U. students finds a new home: Here's where it goes
Every May when the semester ends, off-campus Binghamton University students move out and leave behind furniture, dishes and other unwanted items that sit on the curb, waiting to be hauled away by garbage trucks.
Most of those items used to wind up in the Broome County Landfill. But now more items are being retrieved and donated to local organizations that can use them thanks to the efforts of the Binghamton Move Out Project. Last year, they received about 10,000 pounds of donations, said Chris Harasta, the logistics coordinator and co-leader for the project.
“Some of it was brand new,” said Harasta, who expects those numbers to double this year.
Next month will be the sixth year for the project, which was started by Christina Fuller, a Johnson City native, when she was still a student at Binghamton University. She saw the amount of reusable items going to waste and proposed the idea of collecting and reusing these items to an environmental group on campus.
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In 2018, during the group’s inaugural project, Fuller and five other students collected donations from 104 students, sorted them out at her apartment and donated the items to the Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission, according to the group’s website.
Since then, the project has continued to grow every year. Now, approximately 30 volunteers pick up, sort, and store items in a warehouse in Johnson City. The project is now run by the Susquehanna Group of the Sierra Club, Harasta said.
Students who leave possessions behind might be flying home and unable to take everything with them. Or they might not have room in their car. No matter the reason, they can simply fill out an appointment request form on the organization’s website and a volunteer will come and pick up their donations.
Students who live on campus can either place their items in drop boxes located around the Vestal campus or can bring them to tents set up during finals week and staffed by project volunteers, Harasta said.
They can donate furniture, clothing, electronics, small appliances, kitchenware, unopened non-perishable food items and unopened personal hygiene products, among other items, Harasta said.
These items, in turn, are donated to between 30 and 40 nonprofit organizations, he said.
“We try to find homes for everything,” he said.
For example, the Children’s Home of Wyoming Conference receives mini-refrigerators, tables and chairs – items that can help furnish the first apartment for a foster child aging out of foster care. Local food pantries can use unopened, nonperishable food. Or Rise, formerly known as the SOS Shelter in Endicott, can get kitchenware, clothes and hygiene products for its residents.
“It’s immensely helpful for us to be able to receive these donations,” said Nicole Barren, executive director of Rise. “Even better, we’re keeping it out of the landfill.”
This time of year is very busy for Harasta and the rest of the Move Out team as they prepare for students to leave town next month. But he doesn’t mind, he said.
“It’s great to be able to feel like I am part of the community and able to give back to the community,” he said. “It seems like the right thing to do.”
More about Chris Harasta
Home: Endwell
Hometown: Johnson City
Career: Retail operations manager at Binghamton University
Family: Wife, Katelyn; and one daughter
How to Help: To learn more and to volunteer for the Binghamton Move Out Project, go to www.moveoutproject.org
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Binghamton volunteer project finds new home for discarded student items
