The refrigerator was a welcome addition to his dorm room, but in the end, Steve Goertz gave it up.
“I’m a tuba player, and the tuba has to take priority when I fly home to Seattle,” explained Goertz, 19, an Arizona State University student preparing to move out of his dorm for the summer. Ditch the Dumpster encourages students to donate gently used dorm goods, clothing and shoes rather than throw them in the trash at the end of the term. It is holding its second and final turn-in day on the Tempe campus today until 10 p.m. (Other campuses run through Friday see the box on D6.) In addition, students can turn over “special” recyclables, such as old cellphones and Styrofoam, that are not usually accepted in regular recycling bins. The items go to Swift Charities for Children, which sells them, with profits going to such local charities as the West Valley Child Crisis Center and Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix. This is the second year ASU has partnered with Swift Charities. Last year’s collection was entirely from bins left in the dorm lobbies. That was an imperfect method, as some bins were nearly empty while others overflowed. And all were subject to pilfering. Students were lured with free pizza, a raffle and games.
“We want to help de-stress them during finals,” Schwartz says.