This year marks the 5th annual Office Supply Reuse Day hosted by the Waste Reduction and Recycling (WRR) division of the Office of Campus Sustainability at the University of Michigan.
Each spring, WRR asks U-M departments to donate their gently used office supplies to this event. This year, 80 U-M departments donated a garage full of office supplies to be reused by other departments and over 25 non-profit organizations!
U-M departments and local non-profit organizations are then invited to the Office Supplies Reuse Day, where they can pick up FREE, gently used (and often like-new) office supplies to be used at their workplace or school.
The Office Supply Reuse Day aims to give U-M departments an alternative to recycling or throwing away office supplies that could still be used. By reusing the office supplies the University already has, we can divert waste from landfills and save money, energy, and resources from buying and producing new supplies. This program also supports the University’s sustainability goal to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills by 40% from 2006 levels by 2025.
In addition to promoting campus sustainability, WRR is dedicated to promoting sustainable practices in the Ann Arbor community. By opening up this event to local non-profits, these organizations can operate more sustainably and can avoid the burden of purchasing new office supplies at a cost to their organization. Much of the reused office supplies goes towards filling elementary school classrooms with binders, paper, and more!
While the WRR expects to continue offering the Office Supply Reuse Day, the hope is that the program will no longer be needed as U-M departments learn how to make their offices more sustainable by finding ways to reduce the amount of excess office supplies.
Check out recycle.umich.edu for more sustainability programs offered by WRR!
