Every year, nearly 8,000 students move into 21 residence halls — an arduous and sweaty process in the late August heat. They pack the next year of their lives into a few suitcases, bringing futons, TVs, microwaves, bedding, and a gallery of room decorations. Within a few hours, they transform their room into a new home.
By the time May rolls around, all of those items have to be moved out again. After being lugged out the door, some are put into storage or brought home to be reused in the student’s next residence. As some residents travel far from Madison or no longer have a need for their residence hall decor, many items could follow the dorm-to-dumpster pipeline. Instead, to reduce the amount of reusable and recyclable items that end up in the landfill, a rigorous Sustainable Move Out process ensues at UW–Madison to salvage as much material as possible. University Housing Sustainability Coordinator Malorie Garbe heads this effort by organizing volunteers, donation partners, campus departments, and the Housing Sustainability Committee to keep waste to a minimum.
“When we’re talking about one student leaving their dorm room and leaving behind a lamp and some clothes, it is not that significant,” Garbe said. “But when you multiply that by nearly 9,000 first year students and think about the impact that all of those lamps and futons and clothes can add up to, we find that we’re in a situation where there’s a lot of material to manage.”
During monthly Sustainability Move Out meetings, details as small as the specific location or orientation of one recycling container merit a 15-minute debate. Then, during Move Out, waste collection areas are set up near each building with information and helpful volunteers to direct residents. And every year, due to the group’s meticulous planning and thorough execution, landfill diversion numbers increase. This year, University Housing worked with 174 volunteers to divert 162,556 pounds of waste from the landfill. This figure increased over 12,000 pounds from 2023, while total material heading to landfill decreased by 20,500 pounds. 167 futons found new homes, 226 microwaves were tested, cleaned, and donated, and 87,620 pounds of clothing and furnishings were collected and reshelved by Goodwill. Numbers increased across the diversion board from previous years.
The Sustainable Move Out planning process begins as soon as the last student has left in May. This cues debriefing discussions across departments to improve operations for the following year. Starting in January, community partners are contacted and campus staff are mobilized, with months ahead of planning to ensure that the whole process runs smoothly.
“Move Out projects take so much coordination, planning, and training of volunteers and working with so many partners and vendors,” Garbe said. “At the end of it, we’re able to see such a huge impact, notably in the amount diverted from landfills, but also the awareness of sustainability efforts overall on campus, being intentional about ownership of items, and making sure we have a plan for things at the end of life.”
Beyond all of the waste diverted, the Sustainable Move Out program serves as an educational opportunity for students. With student volunteers helping direct residents in properly sorting their trash from recyclable and donation materials, a student culture around sustainability is fostered in the space between collection bins.
“As much as the planning committee can try to recycle or donate responsibly, it takes a lot of hands to make programs like this work and it takes a lot of informed residents to make it as successful as possible,” Garbe said. “I’m just excited to continue growing the program and to welcome any collaboration in the future.”