Sorting through what was left behind
As I have had two conversations in as many days about starting up a business/non-profit that benefits the local community and the environment, I found this article in the Christian Science Monitor inspiring.
I think this is a perfect marriage of understanding a particular cohort’s behaviors (college kids frantic moving out) and harnessing people’s desire to live in accordance with their beliefs. The woman featured in the article has created a small industry in the process of doing just that.
I also think there is HUGE opportunity for local businesses as well as big brands to become involved in the project. Think about it: Nike and Coca-Cola (and others) sponsor various collegiate sport teams as “the official whatever,” they also spend millions on campus initiatives, and underwrite tours that hit all the hot spots. Why can’t they be equally involved in helping students minimize their negative impact on their surroundings?
For years, much of the flotsam left by college students at the end of the school year ended up in landfills. But, increasingly, schools across the country are implementing programs that corral the leftover belongings and get them into the hands of people who will give them a second life.
For her part, Boragine began gathering the discards and taking them to charities herself. Then, in 1999, she started the nonprofit Dump & Run, which helps colleges collect the items and resell them to benefit charity. The organization is also an information clearinghouse for schools that want to organize similar programs.
When she started, few colleges had formal programs to deal with waste left at the end of the academic year. But as environmental consciousness has grown, Boragine says that’s changing. Now schools are more likely to contact her for help in fine-tuning their existing programs rather than start from scratch.
Born Curious 
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