As spring quarter comes to a close, the thousands of students moving out of the residence halls often have items they no longer need but are still usable. This June, a UW program made sure 59,718 pounds of those items went to local organizations and on-campus reuse groups instead of the waste stream.
The Student Clean-up, Recycle and Move-out, or SCRAM, program is designed to bridge the gap between those unwanted items and organizations looking for donations.
UW Recycling and Housing & Food Services (HFS) collaborate on the SCRAM program each year, which runs during finals week of spring quarter. During this year’s SCRAM, UW Recycling and their partners set up donation sites within several residence halls and apartments for the more than 8,800 residents to easily donate their stuff. The primary goals of the program are to divert material from the landfill and get items to people who want them. Over the past twenty years, the UW SCRAM program has saved more than 785,000 pounds of material from ending up in the landfill.
Ten different organizations received this year’s donations. Some of the partners picked up donations directly from the sites during the week, but most picked up donations after the SCRAM event. Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) took the emergency supplies, cleaning products and hygiene products for their clients. Northwest Center collected clothing and household goods. More than 1.6 tons of donated, shelf-stable food went to UW Food Pantry and University District Food Bank.
2025 SCRAM partners & donation weights
“It’s very rewarding to me,” said UW Recycling Program Coordinator Adam Fehn. “SCRAM really helps get these donations in the hands of people that need them.”
Fehn organized this year’s SCRAM event, which is a seven-month process. The event requires significant planning: determining what items partners will take, scheduling the site servicing and coordinating all the logistics with HFS.
“Without Housing & Food Services, we wouldn’t be able to do SCRAM,” said Fehn. “They’re such good partners and they’re also concerned with waste diversion.”
Donations increased by 85 percent
UW Recycling and HFS expanded the program this year by accepting more types of donations, including furniture and storage organizers. The SCRAM program is dependent on what partners will accept and if they can take a high volume of items in a short period of time. Thousands of residents moving out result in large quantities of similar stuff, which can be a challenge for any group to process and distribute.
Taking on more of these donations increased the SCRAM donation weight total by over 27,000 pounds - an 85 percent increase from 2024.
This increase created some challenges for UW Recycling. Their team serviced the seven donation sites daily, collecting items in carts and sorting straggler donations placed on the floor or in the wrong container. Team members then transported the carts of material to the UW Recycling warehouse, where the material was consolidated into categories by team members and five temporary student employees.
UW Recycling’s warehouse soon reached its limits. Students donated more furniture, bedding and storage items than anticipated, which took up more space than other donations.
Campus partners came to UW Recycling’s aid when their warehouse filled up with donations. UW Creative Communications provided temporary space for furniture. UW Moving assisted with transporting mini-fridges and microwaves across campus. Risk Services processed an expedited request for Proof of Insurance to help rent an additional truck and Fleet Services found an available pivot truck to use as extra storage space. After the event, UW Surplus handled the resale or disposal of the 230 mini-fridges left at SCRAM sites. UW Surplus also accepted 3,123 pounds of items other partners were unable to take. The collaboration between UW groups increased the amount of material donated to organizations this year.
Consolidated donations were later picked up by partner organizations, who transported them to their own facilities for distribution.
Promoting a cycle of reuse on campus
Thousands of students moving out of the residence halls still added significantly to the UW’s waste. Overall, residential facilities on campus sent over 80 tons of material to the landfill during the week of move-out. 
Items in poor condition or items that could not be donated made up a portion of that material. For example, most organizations cannot reuse foam mattress toppers and it is difficult to find a source that will recycle the foam sustainably. UW Recycling sent all mattress toppers left at SCRAM collection sites to the landfill, because there’s no end-market for the item.
UW Recycling wants to transform the SCRAM program to benefit students directly. They plan to save most donated household items during this year’s August move-out (Mini-SCRAM) for a pop-up event before autumn quarter. The “Husky Goods” Free Store event will allow incoming UW students to take and reuse items for their own living spaces.
Gwen Bartholomay is a Zero Waste Program Coordinator with UW Recycling and is leading the Husky Goods event.
"The people moving in really want these items because they’re specific to living in a residence hall,” said Bartholomay. “For example, they likely need a shower caddy for this year, but may not need it later if they move into off-campus housing.”
UW Recycling hopes this event will decrease the amount of goods sent into the waste stream and reduce some financial burden for students. It will also increase the idea of a circular system on the UW campus. In the long term, UW Recycling is looking for on-campus partners to help with the Husky Goods program. They want to find space for future Husky Goods events, temporary warehouse storage or a permanent Husky Goods storefront.
“Normalizing circular economy models, especially within specialized environments like these, can reduce carbon footprint and physical labor needed for other programs,” said Bartholomay. “We can reduce waste for the UW and for incoming students.”
Have questions about the SCRAM program or waste on campus? Email the UW Recycling team at recycle@uw.edu.