‘Trash to Treasure’ is ending. Here’s what will happen to Penn State students’ unwanted items
Trash to Treasure is no longer.
For 20 years, people could ravage through Trash to Treasure, a recycling sale in Beaver Stadium, in which students from residential halls at Penn State donated gently used items to be resold. In 2019, 48 tons of goods were donated. The proceeds went to the Centre County United Way and its partner agencies; in 2018, the sale raised about $40,000.
Trash to Treasure hasn’t been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this year, Penn State Housing decided to do away with it all together. In a press release Thursday, Penn State Housing unveiled it has partnered with Goodwill to collect, sort and distribute students’ gently used items for sale at various locations. A pilot program has been underway for multiple years, it stated.
The Goodwill partnership still offers several benefits even though Trash to Treasure won’t be held, the release stated.
“We are grateful for this collaboration because it allows us to continue upcycling items that would likely end up in a landfill and significantly reduces the University’s cost of removing and hosting a public event,” John Papazoglou, associate vice president of Auxiliary and Business Services, said in the release.
“This change allows us to continue to prioritize our sustainability program, ensures our students can do their part to protect the environment by donating items they no longer need, provides gently used and new items to the broader community, and reduces University costs. We look forward to the continued success of the donations program as we head into our first large-scale student move-out since before the pandemic.”
In April, signage will direct students to donation locations in their residence halls and living areas. Students can drop off gently used and unwanted clothing, and small household and decorative items. Large furniture items will not be accepted and should be donated to organizations outside the university. Unexpired food items can also be dropped off for distribution to local food pantries.
Goodwill will collect and transport donations to its main sorting site after students move out. Items will be distributed for sale to Goodwill locations across a 15-county region.
A portion of the proceeds will be directed to the Centre County United Way this year, the release stated. Over the years, Trash to Treasure has raised almost $1 million, according to a post on Centre County United Way’s Facebook.
“Trash to Treasure has been such a blessing to Centre County for so many years and a memorable part of the United Way. Many thanks to Penn State for helping us raise nearly $1 million through Trash to Treasure over the years,” the post read.
Leanne Lenz, executive director of Centre County United Way, said they don’t expect the cancellation to have a major impact on their their overall campaign.
“Penn State has raised about 40% of our overall campaign every year and that hasn’t changed through COVID, even without the sale and we don’t expect that to change,” Lenz said. “I’m really grateful for everything that they have done for us and continue to do so.”
She said that the United Way idea is to be united, and that means there are a lot of smaller groups doing smaller events that lead to a bigger impact. Bigger events like Trash to Treasure are great, she said, but there are still a lot of people working smaller events and fundraisers to compensate for that.
They hope Penn State comes up with something else that is fun and bigger, as it helps the community get involved and be aware of the United Way, she said.
