At the end of the academic year many students move out, leaving their abandoned household items on the residential streets around McGill. With an estimated 1,500 McGill students inhabiting the area as temporary residents in apartments and various forms of shared housing, the resulting clutter in the streets following the annual exodus leaves some Milton Park residents disgruntled.
This spring, a pilot project called Trash2Treasure (T2T) will pick up students’ cast-off household items before they hit the curb. For a period of ten days, from April 27 to May 6, students can request free pick up of usable goods they no longer need.
Objects will be gathered and sorted before being donated to two well-known Montreal charities, Le Chaînon and Renaissance Montreal. Le Chaînon is a shelter for women in distress, partially funded by a thrift shop on St. Lawrence Boulevard. Renaissance Montrealreinserts people by employing them in the recycling and selling of used goods in over 20 stores across the greater Montreal area.
“We hope T2T will reduce the large amounts of waste that are observed during that peak period of the academic year, as well as increase waste diversion from landfill,” says Julien Tremblay Gravel, SSMU Community Affairs Commissioner Julien Tremblay Gravel and one of the organizers of T2T 2018.
T2T is a partnership between borough officials, the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU), the office of the Dean of Students, Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS), the Milton-Parc Citizens’ Committee (MPCC), and the Société pour l’Action, l’Éducation et la Sensibilisation Environnementale de Montréal (SAESEM), a non-profit organization specializing in sustainable solutions to waste management.
All the partners hope T2T will help build good neighbourly relations between McGill and the residents of Milton-Parc, and will mean less waste of potentially useful objects.
T2T will pick up and recycle household items in good condition such as furniture, used clothing, small appliances, mattresses, electronic devices, kitchen items and books. It is important to note that T2T will not collect large appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers and stoves. Items that are torn, scratched, wet, broken or contaminated by pests of garbage will also be rejected.
Some possible suggestions for disposal of damaged unwanted objects include:
- RecycQuébec
- La Ville de Montreal (French only)
- Collecteverte
Get more information about T2T online or to sign-up over the phone at 514-503-8872. You can also sign up online.