Every year as students rush to move out, residence hall dumpsters fill up with things that could be reused or recycled. What if there was a way to reduce this needless waste and benefit a local charity, too? Arizona State University is doing just that.

The university’s Ditch the Dumpster program, now in its second year, includes two day-long collection events on May 7th and 11th.  Residents can bring their unwanted items to any of 13 locations on the Tempe campus (plus collection boxes at the Downtown, West, and Polytechnic campuses).

Last year, departing residents donated 10,000 pounds of useable goods.  This year, with the addition of de-stressing activities, finals-friendly music, plus games and prizes, ASU hopes participation will more than triple.

Ditch the Dumpster volunteers will accept clothing, furniture, household goods and many other reusable items which will be donated to Swift Charities for Children for the benefit of local kids in need.  ASU Recycling will also collect atypical recyclables during the event, including ink and toner cartridges, cell phones and electronics, CDs, DVDs, athletic shoes and more.  Bins are already available to all ASU residents for regular recycling of paper, plastic, aluminum, steel and tin.

Ditch the Dumpster is a university initiative with contributions from ASU University Housing, Residential Student Engagement, Recycling, Parking and Transit, Facilities and Operations, Students for Arizona PIRG, and the Global Institute of Sustainability, in cooperation with Swift Charities for Children, Tri-Rentals and maintenance contractor Flagship, Inc.

A full list of items which will be collected can be found at http://moveout.asu.edu/.