Campus Waste Reduction successfully organized a 3 day pop-up thrift shop fundraiser for a local environmental justice organization, People for Community Recovery, in collaboration with MODA magazine March 3rd-5th, 2022.  The goals of the project were to create an on-campus location for people to donate their unwanted clothing (diverting waste from landfills), provide an opportunity for people to choose sustainable fashion alternatives, educate students about the importance of sustainable fashion, involve a wide variety of students in sustainability on-campus, and raise funds for environmental justice in Chicago.

We created a map of Chicago vintage and thrift stores.

After our highly successful PSI X MODA Mag Pop-Up Thrift Shop event in Winter 2022, we decided to implement a permanent clothing donation bin on campus to provide students and campus community members with a place to donate unwanted clothing. Donated clothes will be sent to our partner, Brown Elephant, a local thrift shop supporting Howard Brown Health. 

​

We are currently working with Student Centers to secure a location for the donation bin, and we expect a Fall Quarter 2022 program launch.

We continued our annual "Off-Campus Waste Audit Survey" to collect data on off-campus recycling needs, identifying landlords, issues, and neighborhoods for targeting future efforts. In our two surveys, we collected recycling data for over 300 students.

Our next steps may include landlord reporting, autumn quarter workshops, tenant education, and reports of our findings in local media, like the Southside Weekly, who we spent Spring 2022 building a relationship with. 

Through our surveys, we identified a high need for off-campus recycling bins and are working to fill the gaps.

After working with the program manager for student retail throughout the year, we re-introduced a 50-cent discount for using reusable cups and mugs in all student cafés. We also discussed the possibility of a punch card system that may begin next year which would work as a further incentive to use reusable mugs at student-run cafés.  

Especially because UChicago is a university on the quarter system, we end up with a lot of textbooks or books for classes that can be reused by future students for future classes. We are planning to implement a bookshelf at Reynolds Club in Fall 2022 to be used as a lending library where students can leave and take books they need for the quarter. 

CWR worked with UChicago Dining and Student-run coffee shops to promote alternatives to single-use plastic. The group was successful, and starting March 1st, 2022, UChicago Dining transitioned plastic utensils and bags in Hutchinson Commons, Maroon Market, Midway Market, and cafés operated by dining to compostable cutlery and compostable bags. 

​

The switch originated from CWR's collaboration with College Council to survey students on sustainability in UChicago Dining for the 2021-2022 academic year. 

In collaboration with the Science, Art, and Sustainability (SAS) project group, we started a plastic package recycling pilot in Woodlawn Residential Commons. In Spring 2021, we placed boxes in the lounges of 5 houses and have promoted through weekly house emails and posters the option of recycling plastic bags and Amazon packaging through these boxes.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, we continued work on this pilot by researching, writing project proposals, reaching out to administrators, and creating educational content about plastic film recycling.