Cast-off student furniture doesn’t just go away on its own – teams of people help it along.

As University of Virginia students moved from their residence halls and off-Grounds housing at the end of the academic year, an annual effort called “Hoos ReUse,” working with Goodwill and Refurnished Charlottesville, collected discarded furniture and household items to put to good use. Goodwill resells items in its stores and Refurnish Charlottesville finds new homes for other items.

“Hoos ReUse is our annual donation drive at the end of the school year to try to get the students a space to donate gently used items instead of tossing them in the landfill, which is unfortunately one of the more convenient options for students moving out,” said Lela Garner, an outreach and engagement specialist with Facilities Management’s Office of Sustainability. “The idea is that we divert materials from the landfill and we are able to get some of these items that can have a second life back to community members in town.”

This month, Hoos ReUse collected furniture, clothing, books, small appliances and other items that students placed in blue boxes distributed around Grounds near residence halls. The items are turned directly over to Goodwill for sale in its stores. Meanwhile, the fledgling Refurnished Charlottesville works with the off-Grounds student community to collect its items.

“Refurnished and Hoos ReUse have done our best to complement one another’s strengths and raise greater awareness together,” said Alec Brewer, a founder of Refurnished Charlottesville. “Hoos ReUse specializes mostly in on- and near-Grounds, somewhat centralized recovery, and we try to offer pickup and drop-off services for students off-Grounds and in the broader Charlottesville community who are not able to do so themselves.”

Re-Furnished does not charge for its drop-off and pick-up services. The organization has been funded through grants and is now establishing a donation system.

Neither group repairs damaged items, which is why Garner said that the donations need to be “gently used.”

“We don’t have any repair options available as of right now, so we don’t service items apart from just collecting them,” UVA’s Garner said. “During the sorting process, they make a decision as to whether that item is viable and if it is not viable – if a mirror breaks during transportation – they will try to recycle that if possible. And if recycling is not a viable option given the material or the state of the item, they will toss it into the landfill. So they will make a judgment call as to what is viable for the community.”