Northwestern University officials say students moving out of their dorms in June gave 14,000 pounds of cast-off clothing and food to a campus recycling effort.
The students left the items in bins set up at dorms across campus.
The school’s recycling manager, Julie Cahillane, says there was so much clothing that the school brought in a company that specializes in recycling clothes to help run the effort.
The firm, Fundraise and Recycle Clothes Now, operates a chain of resale shops called Unique Thrift Stores, including ones at 4445 Sheridan Road and 7530 N. Western Ave. in Chicago that received most of the donated clothing.
Donated non-perishable food was used by Northwestern’s Campus Kitchens Project to help provide bag lunches for children at non-profit agencies in Evanston.
Although the move-out recycling program has been in operation for 14 years, this is the first time officials have tracked the weight of the goods collected.
Related link