The commentary author reflects on the massive amount of "stuff" being thrown away by South Carolina students as the semester ended. Maybe we all need to evaluate whether we need to buy so much stuff to begin with, he writes. (Stock photo by Benjamin Rondel/Getty Images)
While recently on a college campus, it became quickly obvious that it was towards the end of the spring semester. Located in close proximity to a number of dormitories were some very large dumpsters that were placed about three weeks before students move out.
As the semester drew to a close, more and more “things” were thrown in the dumpster by the students. I hesitate to say trash as it would be difficult to classify all items being tossed as trash.
While sitting there, I was surprised at some of the things I saw being tossed. There were small shelves and cabinets, blankets and pillows, toaster ovens and hot plates, foam bedding and beanbag chairs, clothing, and of course, bags of what I assume was trash.
While there are organizations that will come to some off-campus student apartment complexes to pick up usable items, it does not appear that most large campuses, at least that I was aware of, collect for reuse any of the more usable items being tossed by students.
At first, I thought maybe these dumpsters at college campuses, once loaded up, are hauled away to a location where the items are sorted out with the usable items separated from the trash.
But then I realized that the dumpsters are located out in the open where they frequently get drenched by rain and therefore the items were not being taken anywhere except the dump.
I was thinking it would be nice if there was an organization that would work with the colleges to salvage materials with only a little damage to help out those who might be in need of some of these things but are struggling economically.
There are such organizations in many cities that accept what they might call “gently used” items from people who bring these items to a store or drop off location. I was thinking that if there was a way of collecting some of the items that the students are tossing that they could be cleaned or reconditioned so that they could then be sold or, better yet, distributed to those in need.
That was when someone gave me the bad news. And that is that a very large percent of items brought to the stores and drop-off locations get tossed as well.
Since so much stuff is being tossed each year, maybe we need to look at how much stuff people feel that they need to have, whether in college or whatever stage they are in their lives.
I went to college many years ago so my memory may be off a little, but I just don’t remember me or any of my friends tossing much or even anything at the end of a semester or school year.
We came to school with a large duffle bag or maybe one or two large suitcases full of mostly clothes and, at the end of the semester, that was exactly what we went home with.
I am sure we had some trash but not to the point where the school had to bring in dumpsters.
We are counting on our youth to solve many large problems in the world and most feel that trash is not one of the major concerns. It may become one over time as we have seen huge amounts of trash end up in our oceans.
Maybe if we come up with a way to reuse or recycle more of these items, we might at least be able to help those among us who could benefit from them.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
