DAYTON, Ohio — If you’ve ever experienced a first college move-in day, it’s no secret that it can be a stressful few hours filled with goodbyes, new supplies, and boxes, boxes and more boxes.

Student volunteers with the University of Dayton are working to help the first time away from home be just a little bit easier.

What You Need To Know

  • UD students help first-year students breakdown and recycle cardboard boxes and plastics

  • This is the third year for the Zero Waste Move-in event

  • Last year during the day, UD was able to collect 1.86 tons of cardboard

  • Thanks to a new partnership with the Hefty ReNew Program, plastics, packing peanuts and styrofoam all have a place to go inside extra large orange bags

Shannon Denneman and Kelsey Frantz are students at UD, and it’s their first time helping with the Zero Waste Move-in Day.

“It’s awesome," Frantz said. "It’s really wonderful being able to model for the other students as well as this is big time when it’s very easy and the stress of moving in to throw everything in dumpster, and it’s great being able to help with that separation and make a difference on move-in day."

“The hope is we can model it for freshmen to show what you can and can’t recycle so that in future years they can do it on their own and then take that with them after college,” Denneman said.

The cardboard was recycled by Rumple. Thanks to a new partnership with the Hefty ReNew Program, plastics, packing peanuts and styrofoam all have a place to go inside extra large orange bags.

“A lot of these materials are what we call in recycling industry ‘tangles’. This stuff gets caught up in our machines, our machines break down because they’re not working properly,” said Molly Kennedy with Rumpke.

The orange bags can be easily seen and separated.

“We’re containing these, we’re moving them off the line," Kennedy said. "The only benefit is not putting it in the landfill, returning it into something else."

To make the day happen, it takes a special collaboration between UD’s Office of Energy and Sustainability, the Hanley Institute and Student Transition and Family Programs.

As Frantz continues her major in Sustainability, giving back just makes sense.

“When I heard about sustainability and I realized there were things that I could do to make a difference in the world around me, I decided that’s really what I wanted to do with my life, and I’m very passionate about it and very excited to be learning more,” Frantz said.

Collections like this also spark conversations about recycling in residence halls and putting those big orange bags to use.

“Stocking up on some of those, so you can use it for all of your hard plastics," Frantz said. "It’s something new that I think that a lot of students on campus haven’t even heard of, so having the opportunity to share that information with all the new students coming on campus I think will make a difference."

This was the third year for the Zero Waste Move-in initiative. Last year during the day, UD was able to collect 1.86 tons of cardboard.

The next big collection will be at the end of the school year.