The Swap Shop: The First Step Towards a Sustainable Campus

On November 19th, a group of 4th year Climate and Environment students hosted StFX’s first Swap Shop.  

“We wanted to try and make essential home goods or stuff like kitchen appliances more accessible and more affordable for people, especially since the cost of living is so high,” said one Swap Shop organizer, Sofia MacFarlane. The Swap Shop was a completely free event where the campus community was encouraged to bring any unwanted and functional items to be repurposed by others, as well as non-functional items to be disposed of ethically and eco-consciously. 

The event took place at the former C4U store in Bloomfield Center and was facilitated by Sofia and three of her fellow classmates, Alyssa MacDonald, Hannah Vogel, and Val von Muehldorfer. The initiative, which originally began as a project for their business administration class, consisted of an item drop off on the evening of November 18th, with the main event from 9am-4pm the following day. The event was promoted on the Swap Shop Instagram page, describing it as a way to “Reduce waste. Refresh your style. Reconnect with your campus.” Attendees were also encouraged to “swap, shop, donate, have fun!” In addition, the organizers provided information regarding how and where to bring hard-to-recycle items in the community. 

In an interview with Sofia, she spoke about the main goal of the event, explaining that “we wanted to create that kind of affordable and sustainable solution to reduce campus waste. We wanted to make a space where you could come look through our items and if there’s something you need, you know we have toasters, microwaves, TVs, stuff like that, even textbooks.”  

When asked about how successful the Swap Shop was, Sofia explains “We didn’t know how it was going to go at first, because we had such a short time to advertise and get people to come out, but there was a pretty good turnout.” She continued, saying, “We got a lot of positive feedback, and all of our items ended up getting taken. After the event, people were really excited about the idea of having a free item store on campus, where people could take items when they’re moving out, or hard to recycle items.”  

With a large portion of StFX’s student population living in residence, the number of appliances, devices, and miscellaneous items that are purchased and discarded while still being completely functional is the prime contributor of campus waste. Even if students choose to move into a house with roommates, there is often an unnecessary amount of items that never get used again.   

Sofia spoke about this issue, explaining how “It creates so much waste moving in and out, especially moving out. Whether people are in residence or living off campus, there should be a place to dispose of items that are still good, and for the sake of making it more convenient to move,” and that “people who live in residence are so quick to buy all these appliances, and then they move into a house with people, and everyone has their own kettle and their own toaster.” 

Another contributor is the number of StFX students who cannot easily travel between campus and their hometown. Many rely on flying and are therefore limited in what they can bring to and from campus. “It would be so much easier if there was somewhere on campus for people to take their stuff instead of having to sort something out on their own. We just want to make it easier for people to leave stuff behind, and know it’s being dealt with responsibly,” said Sofia. 

 Sofia and the other Swap Shop organizers are planning on hosting another event closer to the end of the academic year. With this initiative, campus waste can be significantly reduced and is a vital step towards achieving a more sustainable and eco-conscious campus community.