In May, before the campus went quieter for the summer and scholars packed their families’ cars with personal keepsakes — childhood pillows, jewelry boxes, beloved books, and more — it was abuzz with a thousand excited students wheeling big blue, yellow, or red bins from dorm rooms to one of the five different Give and Go Green (GGG) donation sites across campus. For some, the sadness of leaving Barnard can feel less intense when students know their belongings will find a new home instead of heading to the trash.
“I think oftentimes we find that we don’t necessarily need a certain item, but it is still in good condition. This initiative helps build security that it will find a second home,” said Eco Rep Regina Jiang ’28 (above, left), a biological sciences major. “It’s so exciting to see how the microwaves and fridges are recycled and re-donated back to us, which I have learned from Leslie [Raucher, director of Sustainability and Climate Action] is the circular ecosystem.”
While the average college student reportedly produces 640 pounds of waste annually, Barnard College’s nearly 3,000 students proudly keep about 25,000 pounds out of landfills by taking part in the College’s Give and Go Green initiative.
The goal of the initiative is to help Barnard achieve its waste reduction goals and strengthen its status as a Circular Campus — a holistic, systems-based framework designed to reduce emissions, waste, and costs; transform consumption patterns on campus; increase access and affordability for students; and support the transition to a just, sustainable economy. What’s more, profits from the Green Sale go directly back to the students in the form of the Climate Action Grant, which gives them resources — such as grant money to host a potluck or to install new plant beds — to be a part of creating positive changes on campus, in New York City, and beyond.
As members of a college community that takes sustainability seriously, Barnard’s climate-savvy students launched and ran GGG before the Sustainability & Climate Action committee took it over in 2017 and expanded the event to include specialty recycling for e-waste and foam mattress toppers. Since then, students have donated gently used clothing, appliances, bedding, cleaning products, and more. The bounty is given to small local charities, such as Riverside Church and Grad Bag, as well as larger organizations like Wearable Collections and Goodwill.
“It has been really special to see the evolution of the program over the years,” said Leslie Raucher, director of Sustainability and Climate Action. “I am always inspired by the students who work as Eco Reps, as well as the wider Barnard community’s commitment to circularity and waste reduction.”
In addition to collecting donations, Barnard’s GGG program works directly with students, or Eco Reps, who sort, clean, and organize donated items for local charities or for the much-anticipated back-to-campus Green Sale that takes place during New Student Orientation Program (NSOP) at the start of the fall academic year and in partnership with Collegeboxes. These “circularity advisors” have also been given hands-on opportunities to build kitchen kits from donations that eventually become available to students for a yearlong rental. The GGG initiative is so popular during Move-Out Week that the Sustainability and Climate Action office has seen refrigerators return as many as four times.
Buying Green
Fast forward to fall and the recycling continues, as whatever isn’t donated is stored over the summer for the Green Sale. Last year, a total of 9,484 pounds was saved. “I [became an Eco Rep] because I was excited for how this program gives items a second chance as well as promotes accessibility and affordability for students,” said Jiang.
When the Green Sale returns, Jiang and her fellow Eco Reps and staffers from the Sustainability and Climate Action office will once again host throngs of eager first-year and transfer-student shoppers seeking much-needed and prized dorm-room accoutrements. Picture a coveted retro-colored mini-fridge or a quirky desk lamp.
By the Numbers: One U-Haul truck at a time
2025 Move-Out Week and Give and Go Green Moments
