University of New Hampshire's
Peace and Justice League
Meetings: Tuesdays - 8pm - MUB 139
T2T is a program that has developed out of SEAC (Student Environmental Action Coalition) and has been tackling this waste issue at UNH. Through the T2T program, volunteers collect useable goods thrown away during move-out, clean and organize them over the summer, and sell them at a giant yard-sale over move-in week. As you can see from the picture in the background, it is a huge sale and has only gotten bigger. In it's first 3 years, T2T reduced over 100 tons of wasted and saved the university over $10,000 on waste disposal costs!! The success of the program garnered local and national attention with articles in local newspapers, magazines, and USA Today.Along the way, the students behind T2T realized that at its core, waste is just a logistics problem. T2T proves that when there's an alternative to the landfill, far fewer things get sent there. That's why those students launched PLAN, a new nonprofit to expand this initiative to other universities nationwide. The yard-sale link for this year: https://www.facebook.com/events/750639638415613/
A student movement to make waste obsolete - a national expansion of UNH Trash2Treasure. Ever notice dumpsters piling up full of stuff at the end of the semester? Stuff that might be broken, but also things that could very well be brand new and reusable? To handle all of this, the university brings 17 extra 30-yard dumpsters onto campus and our waste jumps from about 25 tons to 105 tons of trash! The problem is, Landfill land is leased from the government, and when those leases expire, the pits of pollution become the public's problem. We end up paying companies to take our stuff and turn it into pollution, essentially. Launched in 2013, PLAN (Post-Landfill Action Network) is a non-profit network designed to help build student-led, self-sustaining waste-reduction programs at universities nationwide. PLAN helps students conduct waste audits and works with their school to implement solutions that cut waste year-round. To learn more about how PLAN began, what schools are involved, to donate or to find out about internship opportunities, click here!
