Third Annual Too Good to Toss Event to be Hosted During Moveout
Donations at Millennium Hall in 2022.
When you’re moving out of your dorm, house or apartment this summer, there may be some things that you just need gone, but they’re just too good to toss. Not to worry — Drexel University has a program aimed at reducing waste and keeping items in the community.
The Too Good to Toss program, now in its third year (and formerly called Too Good to Go), encourages students to donate items and “shop” other donated items at the same time by arranging drop-off bins outside several residence halls on the University City Campus. This year, collection starts on June 2 and bins will be outside Millennium, Van Rensselaer, Canaris, Towers, Kelly, Bentley, Race and North halls, waiting to accept donations.
From 1–4 p.m. on June 14, students and the community will be able to rummage through bins at Towers Hall and Myers Green to take whatever they want, free of charge.
The program was started by Claire Toomey, software engineering ’25, and is run with the help of Drexel’s Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA), Housing and Residence Life and Drexel Climate & Sustainability. This year, PA Fibershed, a nonprofit that’s part of more than 70 Fibershed global affiliates, is getting in on the green initiative by gathering data on textile waste.
“We intercept the collection and collect data on what’s been donated, including country of origin, what type of item and what the fabric makeup is,” said Antoinette Westphal School of Media Arts & Design instructor Rachel Higgins, a founder of PA Fibershed.
Drop off worn-out jeans, bras, shoes and socks at the downcycling center.
They’ll also curate clothing for the Reworn shop (a thrift store located in the URBN Annex) to keep items in the community versus sending them elsewhere they may or may not be bought or used.
The Too Good to Toss events won’t be the only opportunities to reduce textile waste. Drexel students can become PA Fibershed ambassadors and will be trained to put on campus events like mending workshops or clothing swaps. Ambassadors will also work with Higgins at a downcycling center that’s now open in the URBN Center outside of room 108. Worn-out jeans, bras, socks and shoes can be dropped off here, and they’ll be downcycled into dog beds, insulation and playground surfaces. It’s a way to make use of fibers that can’t be reused in their current state.
“Recycling our clothes is really cumbersome, and the average person is not going to do that, so that’s why we’re doing it on campus to make it easier,” Higgins said.
Higgins and PA Fibershed’s goal is to reduce textile waste on campus by 5%, and with the opportunity provided by Too Good to Toss, Drexel can be on its way to making the world a little greener.