TUCSON, Ariz. — It is the end of the school year and students living in the dorms are packing up their rooms and moving out. One problem: they have too many clothes, leftover school supplies and uneaten food. A lot of times they have a lot more stuff than they began with and it doesn’t all fit in the boxes or car.

Instead of throwing out the items 5,700 dorm residents decide not to bring back home, the University of Arizona encourages students to donate them.

Put on by the Residence Life Recycling and Sustainability Program, the “Recycle Reduce Reuse Donation Program” started April 27 and runs until students move out of the residence halls May 16.

Students who live in the dormitories on campus can give away items that they will not use or don’t want to the Salvation Army and the Community Food Bank.

“Students can donate books, school supplies, electronics, furniture and clothes to the Salvation Army,” said Liz Zavodsky, the University of Arizona Residence Life coordinator of sustainability education. “The Community Food Bank takes donations of food that students don’t want to take home from the dorms.”

Residence Life recycling eco-rep Kristina Solheim, an environmental sciences sophomore, said that fliers have been posted in all of the residence halls advertising the donation program.

Getting the word out that this opportunity is available to dorm residents is something that is important to the Residence Life Recycling Program.

Tori Edmonson, an undeclared sophomore at the University of Arizona, said she had no idea about the program when she lived in the dorms last year.

“I didn’t donate anything because I didn’t know about it,” Edmonson said. “Had I known, I may have donated a couple things.”

While the donations help out the local community, they also make an impact on the environment.

“If the items weren’t donated, they would be thrown away and end up at the landfill,” Zavodsky said. “The donations keep these items from filling up the landfill quite as quickly.”

Fast Facts: 2008 Results * 4,173 lbs. of food were donated to the Community Food Bank * Over 9,300 lbs. of clothes, shoes, and other items were donated to the Salvation Army Source: Liz Zavodsky, University of Arizona Residence Life coordinator of sustainability education

Last Year’s Results

Zavodsky was impressed with last year's results, but one student feels that they could have been better.

Ashley Jones, accounting senior and residence assistant in Colonia de La Paz Residence Hall, “Last year I only donated food because some of the things donated were resold at the bookstore instead of being donated to the Salvation Army,” Jones said. “I was a little irritated by that, and I know some other people who also didn’t donate some items for that same reason.”

The Residence Life Recycling Program was aware of the dismay that students felt and will not be working with the UA Bookstore this year, Zavodsky said.

“Last year we did sell electronic items that were donated, but nothing else,” Zavodsky said. “We made $700 on the sales last year, and that money went directly back into (the Residence Life Recycling and Sustainability) budget for this year.”

Everything that was not sold was donated to the Salvation Army.

Will the Economy Have an Effect?

Zavodsky and her residence life eco-reps are hoping that the economy doesn’t play too much of a role in preventing students from donating items this year.

Zavodsky and Jenna Roller, a psychology sophomore and eco-rep executive board member, both say that one of more popular reasons students donate items is because they do not want to have to pack them up to take home.

“Boxing your stuff up to take home is something that’s not going to change even if the economy is bad,” Roller said. “Students generally have more stuff at the end of the year than they did when they moved in.”

Solheim doesn’t think that the current state of the economy will change the students’ habits.

Did You Know: * In 2009, the UA participated in RecycleMania as an entire campus for the first time. * RecycleMania is a 10-week competition that encourages college campuses all over the country to recycle as much as possible. * With the entire campus participating, the UA placed fourth among 510 schools in the “Gorilla Prize” division. *The UA's total number of pounds recycled increased from 57,776 pounds in 2008 to 863,192 pounds in 2009. *In past years only the residence halls competed in the national competition. Source: Liz Zavodsky, University of Arizona Residence Life coordinator of sustainability education and recyclemania.org.

“Students tend to throw away everything, and I don’t think that will change too much,” Solheim said. “I just hope they donate it instead of throwing it in the trash.”

How the Donations Help

According to Jacob Coldsmith, a donations coordinator at the Community Food Bank, donations averaged about 52,000 pounds per month in 2008.

The UA accounted for just fewer than 10 percent of donations in the month of May.

“We have drives that produce more food than this one does,” Coldsmith said, “But that’s not to take anything away from this drive.”

Coldsmith likes to view the donations based on how many meals they provide.

“We estimate a meal at 1.25 pounds,” Coldsmith said. “When you get the number we had last year that’s about 3,200 meals that are being donated, and that’s a really good thing for us and the families we supply to.”

The 3,200 meals would be able to feed a family of four eating three meals per day for more than two-thirds of the year.

Ron Creson, a collection site manager for the Salvation Army, could not give an average monthly amount. He said that donations aren’t normally measured in pounds, but are for this program in order to give the UA a measurable result.

“The biggest thing this program does for (the Salvation Army), besides the donations, is it gets our name out there and promotes other community involvement,” Creson said.

The Community Food Bank and the Salvation Army aren’t the only ones who benefit from the donations program.

As a result of the donations, the UA takes less to the area landfills at the end of the year.

Chris Kopach, the facilities management associate director for the university, said that the landill charges the UA $30 per ton of trash it dumps.

Last year's donations saved the UA over $200 in disposal fees.