By Adam Conner-Simons '08

Each year, Pomona students take with them all sorts of memories and experiences, but they also leave behind far too much stuff. Lamps, bedding, kitchen appliances—much of it in good condition—are discarded like yesterday’s newspapers. In the end-of-year rush, objects are often left strewn throughout the dorms in a chaotic scene just short of a disaster movie. Relief efforts began last summer with a clean-up campaign conceived by then-ASPC President Sarah Kuriakose ’07. As part of “Clean Sweep,” more than 25 student workers spent the first week of summer collecting, organizing and ultimately donating abandoned items on campus to charity.

This year, students are going farther with the opening of a small store where unwanted items are resold to other students. The ReCoop held its grand opening in February, selling $200 worth of inventory ranging from detergent and shampoo to couches and rugs. Located on the second floor of Walker Lounge in a space not much bigger than a dorm room, the ReCoop is open two nights a week, accepting donations and also selling items at prices ranging from 25 cents to upwards of $10.

ReCoop organizers Hilary Parker ’08 and Rocco Addante ’08 were among the Clean Sweep workers and recognized the opportunity to funnel resources back to the Pomona population. “Charities don’t need 40 mini-fridges,” Parker says. “We realized that these were items more suited for college students.” In the spring of 2007, they started talking to Dean of Campus Life Ric Townes about maintaining a full-scale thrift store, and soon broached the topic with ASPC Environmental Affairs Commissioner Kyle Edgerton ’08. A $1,500 loan from President David Oxtoby’s sustainability fund this fall helped turn the idea into reality.

Students and administrators involved are eager to point out that while other colleges have organized waste-cycling events—Penn State’s “Trash to Treasure” sale last year garnered nearly $50,000 for the United Way—the ReCoop is notable for being a sustainable sustainability effort. “Rather than just getting in a bus, going somewhere for one day and getting off, this is something that will be here every week,” says ReCoop worker Stephanie Pham ’10. Sagehens seem receptive to the service: “It’s an easy way to save money and reduce waste,” says ReCoop customer Stephanie Frankle ’10.

The current managers, all from the class of ’08, are confident that there will be no shortage of underclassmen willing to take over their duties. “It’s going to be a much bigger operation than we anticipated because so many people are interested in participating,” says Parker, adding that the effort draws a mix of environmentalists and budding business entrepreneurs. “My hope is that people with different interests will all find common ground and, inadvertently or not, be environmentally conscious.”

A key goal of the ReCoop team is to inform first-year students of the importance of buying used items rather than splurging at Target. ReCoop leaders plan to work with the Admissions Office to inform newly-admitted students about the ReCoop before they get to campus. Parker hopes to have a big flea market-type event during Orientation Week when first-years can buy items collected the previous spring.

In a larger sense, the ReCoop is meant to change the mentality that getting rid of your stuff gets rid of the problem. “There is no ‘away,’” Edgerton says. “Things don’t come from ‘away,’ and you surely can’t throw things ‘away.’ Whether it’s a landfill 40 miles from here or a Dumpster behind your residence hall, ‘away’ is a place. With the ReCoop, we are trying to get people to think of the whole trajectory of their consumption.”