The University of Portland is introducing a new sustainability program aimed at reducing waste during student move-in and move-out periods.
Move UP, spearheaded by Associate Professor of Economics Ruth Dittrich, is funded by a $98,000 grant from Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and will provide students an option to donate appliances and items that they would otherwise discard.
Move UP will be accepting donations between April 25 and May 5.
Dittrich got the idea for Move UP during a recycling audit when students observed dumpsters on move-out day at UP. Their stories of waste inspired her to tackle the issue.
"Last year, the university had about ten dumpsters around campus for about a week, and they had to empty these dumpsters every second day, filled up with items," Dittrich said. "Some of this is genuine trash, but a lot of these things are still reusable, and could be used or reused or even resold."
According to Dittrich, Move UP’s goal is to decrease waste per student and increase clothing and other items diverted by 15%. To do this, the program will identify and collect items that students intend to discard that returning or new students may need when they return to UP in the fall. Then, these items will be refurbished and resold during move-in for a fraction of their original cost through an online inventory system.
The students can then pick up these items at a pop-up store, which will be on campus for the first two weeks of the semester.
Dittrich points out that while there have been smaller volunteer efforts in the past to curb the amount of waste students create, the DEQ grant that will fund Move UP offers compensation and funding for students to help lead the program under the supervision of Dittrich.
There are currently two students involved in the process of creating and maintaining Move UP.
Cherisse Wong, a UP student who has worked with Dittrich on this project, knows firsthand the difficulty of taking large appliances home for Summer Break.
"I'm from Hawaii, and a lot of my friends are from Hawaii," Wong said. "So we have a hard time figuring out what we're going to do with all these things in our room."
Another student who has helped make Move UP a success is Michael Hauger, who shares a similar perspective as Wong.
"A lot of my friends who have to fly just have to throw away a bunch of stuff that they couldn't store," Hauger says.
Move UP has partnered with multiple campus departments to focus on student outreach and making everyone aware of the new program. In the summer, Move UP will take over the UP admissions social media pages to make incoming students aware of the donation process to help with financial need. University Relations has also agreed to email the parents of incoming students about the program, as it is often the parents who buy new items for their students' dorms.
Infrastructure-wise, the mailing center has agreed to let Move UP use their storage area for students who live off campus to donate items.
Dittrich has reached out to Outdoor Pursuits about repairing used bikes on campus and selling them back to the students, and is currently looking for mechanics to help with this process over the summer.
As Move UP prepares for its debut this spring, Dittrich hopes the program will not only reduce campus waste but also create a sustainable model that shifts student culture toward reuse and environmental responsibility.
More information about Move UP can be accessed here.
Rieve Randall is a news reporter for The Beacon. He can be reached at randallr28@up.edu.
