Dorm move-out goes “green”

Remember moving out of your residence hall for the summer? If it didn’t fit in the car, you left it behind, didn’t you? Well, this year’s departure entailed a lot less guilt, thanks to recycling intern Mary Patterson ’01. With help from the nonprofit outfit Dump and Run, Patterson led a collection campaign after final exams and again after Commencement, and then held a yard sale to benefit five Saratoga charities.
Held at the Farmer’s Market pavilion downtown, the gigantic sale found homes for four truckloads of dorm leftovers—sheets and blankets, lamps and fans and humidifiers, packaged food and laundry soap, chairs and sofas, refrigerators, books and CDs, and clothes galore. Laser printers sold for $5 apiece; a hot-pink Saks Fifth Avenue ballgown went for $2; a couple of life-size human figures made of chicken wire fetched $8 each (art doesn’t come cheap).
At the end of the day, Patterson proudly distributed some $2,500 among the charities who’d provided volunteers to help staff the sale. The benefits for Skidmore included reduced dumping fees and less staff time to clear out dorm rooms. And everybody benefited by keeping usable items out of the waste stream. —SR