Don’t Dispose! Donate this Move Out Season

box of clothing labeled: "Donation"Green Apple Move Out is NYU’s annual initiative to reduce the waste generated during spring move out! Live in an NYU residence hall? You can drop textiles and certain room essentials in the designated area in your building. Learn more about what’s acceptable. 

This guide provides tips and resources for how to have a sustainable move out. 

 

Packing up:

  • When packing fragile items, use things you already have like socks and scarves instead of buying plastic bubble wrap.
  • Consider buying or renting reusable boxes or containers that you would be able to use in your new dorm or for your next move out. 
  • Start evaluating your possessions early on so you aren’t forced to throw away perfectly donateable or sellable items at the last minute. 
  • Old linens and clothes can be transformed into new rags.

Swap with friends and neighbors:

  • Host a swap for clothing, books, or hobby items (i.e. video games, craft supplies) with your friends. 
  • Consider donating to local mutual aid groups, check this map to find one near you
  • If you live in a residence hall,  check out the donation bins in your building before goods are carted away

Donate:

The DonateNYC portal is a comprehensive resource in finding donation sites for all types of things. But, here are a few suggestions for where to donate or sell different types of items:

  • Food: the Bowery Mission, City Harvest, local community fridges
  • Books: Facebook marketplace or groups for students, the Strand, other used bookstores
  • Clothing: Goodwill, Buffalo Exchange, Depop, NYC Clothing Drop-off, Housing Works, and many other organizations around NYC
  • Towels and Bedding: The Humane Society of New York, NYC Textile Drop-off, GrowNYC (many places that accept clothing donations also accept linens, but check online to make sure)
  • Household items: Hubbub, Housing Works
  • Appliances/electronics: Hubbub, Housing Works

Organizations to Check Out:

Hubbub

Hubbub is a rental marketplace created by a NYU Graduate student, Patrick Varuzza. After noticing the waste generated during residence hall move-outs, he was inspired to create a circular economy system for college student essentials. To make everything as convenient as possible, Hubbub provides pickup and dropoff services at your convenience. If you’re thinking of throwing out or donating items, consider giving them to Hubbub. Next year, consider renting items from them so you won’t have to worry about dealing with everything during move out. Once you sign up, they handle everything!

Big Reuse

Big Reuse, located in Brooklyn, is a great resource for Tandon students or students living off campus in Brooklyn. It is a nonprofit organization focused on reducing the environmental burden of waste. They accept a wide range of materials, including clothes, furniture, books, homegoods, and more. Make sure to check out their Donations Guide for specifics and the complete list of what they accept. Big Reuse also hosts the NYC Compost Project, working with over 70 compost drop-off sites, to increase compost accessibility in NYC.

City Harvest

City Harvest is NYC’s largest food rescue organization. They work to rescue and deliver food to communities in need all across the city, as well as aiding with nutrition education and disaster response. City Harvest has an annual “Feed Our Kids” food drive, from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day (May 8th to June 19th in 2022), that overlaps with move out from NYU. Last year, they raised over 180,000 pounds of food! NYU Dining also partners with City Harvest to pick up unused food from dining locations.