Students donated over 67,000 pounds of goods to local charities and nonprofit organizations during the spring semester move-out this year, an increase of over 25,500 pounds from 2024, according to a report from the Office of Sustainability. 

The annual Green Move-Out program was launched by the University’s sustainability office in 2014 to promote environmentally friendly habits and decrease student waste during spring move-out has donated at least 30,000 pounds of goods to local charities and nonprofit organizations, like Goodwill. The 67,440 pounds of goods donated this year is a record for the program, beating the 2023 record of over 57,000 pounds, according to Sustainability Project Associate Sophie Jones.

This year’s Green Move-Out had over 60 volunteers working for two weeks at the end of the spring semester to sort through donated items, according to an Instagram post. At residence halls, the Office of Sustainability set up donation bins for students to donate items like electronics, bedding and clothing.

“To our knowledge, this year’s total diversion weight is a record high for the Green Move-Out program, thanks in large part to our partners in Community Living and Residential Education (CLRE), Facilities, Buildings, and Grounds, Transportation and Relocation Services, more than 60 student volunteers, and six community partners,” Jones said in an email. 

Students donated over 300 pounds of electronics, which Jones said was donated to one of six “community partners” or saved for the Reuse Market, an on-campus pop-up shop at the start of the fall semester providing students with the donated goods from the Green Move-Out for free. 

Jones added this year’s community partners included Goodwill, Project Green B, Green Drop, A Wider Circle, Bread for the City and Habitat for Humanity.

Jones said electronics that couldn’t be donated or saved were recycled using eAsset Solutions, the University’s e-cycling partner that “repurposes and recycles” GW’s electronics and appliances. Jones said other items, like lamps, bedside tables and other home decor, were mostly donated to one of the six community partners.

Jones said Goodwill and Project Green B took a majority of the donated goods, collecting 23,417 and 24,336 pounds of goods, respectively.

In 2024, students donated over 41,500 pounds of goods, including over 24,000 pounds of bedding, clothing and shoes, according to a report from the Office of Sustainability.

In 2023, the Green Move-Out set a record for goods donated, coming in at over 57,000 pounds of items. That year, clothing and shoes made up 48,125 pounds of the total donated goods, with 8,000 pounds of household goods and 1,250 pounds of bedding making up the bulk of the other donated goods.

The record set in 2023 beat the previous record of over 53,000 pounds of goods donated in 2022, where 45,000 pounds of clothing made up a bulk of the goods students donated. 

Before officials at the Office of Sustainability started the Green Move-Out, students and University officials ran a different unofficial version of the program. Starting in 2006 as a student-led initiative, GW officials began working with numerous student organizations to create a monthlong series of events at the end of the spring semester.

First taking place in 2007, students participated in a campus clean up and flea market in April and then in May students were given the opportunity to donate goods like books, school supplies, food and recycle electronics or other hazardous waste. The Salvation Army also ran a clothing drive on campus that May.

Students donated nearly 80,000 pounds of goods in 2010, a record high for the original student-run Green Move-Out, according to Hatchet archives. The following year, volunteers collected over 3,700 bags of donations, about 300 more from 2010’s 3,478 bags of donated goods.

Some of GW’s peer schools, like Boston, Syracuse, Wake Forest and Tufts universities, have similar donation programs for students at the end of spring semester.