NU student business recycles household items

When school starts this fall, Weinberg senior Melody Yin will be promoted from intern to president of Move In Move Out, a nonprofit started by a Kellogg student that sells donated items to students moving in.

Melody Yin stands among reusable tables and chairs in Mimo’s warehouse at 2220 Greenleaf St.

When school starts this fall, Weinberg senior Melody Yin will be promoted from intern to president of Move In Move Out, a nonprofit started by a Kellogg student that sells donated items to students moving in.

About one year ago, founder Steven To came to Kellogg School of Management from Hong Kong, and when he arrived, piles of unwanted items including microwaves, televisions and kitchenware greeted him in the lobby of his McManus Hall dorm..

Feeling frustrated that numerous, good quality items were going to end up in a landfill, he saw his opportunity to reduce landfill waste and donate to charity.

Mimo collects items including televisions, kitchenware and mini-fridges from students that are in good condition and reserves the right to deny damaged items.

Before the end of the last school year, Mimo collected over 1,000 items from over 100 households that amounted to about 6 tons.

During the last week of May and the first two weeks of June, Northwestern students can donate their items to Mimo. Those approved items sell from the second week of August through September, just in time for students to move back to school.

Students may order their items online and either have them delivered right to their door or pick them up from the warehouse, or they may browse the items at the warehouse and pay there.

This year they have raised $14,000 so far, and after covering costs, they will donate the money to the Evanston Ecology Center and unsold items to Connections for the Homeless and Salvation Army.

As for the future, “Our biggest goal is to get more people to become aware of our service,” Yin said.

Medill junior Katherine Dempsey said that she would like to try buying from Mimo. “I’d need to assess the type of condition” the item is in, Dempsey said. “If it’s still usable and working well, then I’d buy it.”