The deluge of useful items that wash over Providence every spring is a constant reminder of our mindless consumption. We have created a throwaway society that is trashing the planet and depleting resources.

A column I recently wrote highlighted two Providence residents who are hoping to curb this springtime spectacle of college/university waste. Their initiative sparked a flurry of emails — more than a dozen — from people who want to volunteer in the effort, or at least offer some possible solutions.

A woman from Barrington noted that when she attended graduate school five decades ago there was a program to keep useful/reusable dormitory items out of the waste stream.

“I’m not sure this will be helpful but wanted to share what the University of Michigan did back in the 70’s when I was there in graduate school. Not sure if they still do,” she wrote. “The university donated a very large empty garage to house castoffs. Students could take stuff there or leave it in their dorms for staff to transport. The garage was open at times for people, public welcome, to buy items helping to fund the program. I still have an ironing board I bought there 50 years ago!”

She correctly noted, however, that such an effort “requires a strong commitment from the university.” She also included a link to a blog titled “What do colleges do with items left behind in dorms?”

A 70-year-old Providence resident with a bad back “makes being useful problematic,” but that didn’t stop her from offering words of encouragement — “Hooray for Sara Dorsch and Carolyn Birnbaum for wanting to spearhead some action” — and from sharing some thoughts on the problem.

“Education is key, but also convenience,” she wrote. “When you have a couple days or hours to cram all your stuff in a car, you get less particular with what happens at the end. A solution would have to make it easier to donate than to trash stuff.”

An Aquidneck Island resident suggested we contact St. George’s School in Middletown. She attended the school’s annual yard sale this year.

“They gather everything at their hockey rink,” she wrote. “Clothes, books, furniture etc. (free to go except for preview night I think — where you might snag something really good from a retiring faculty.)”

Newport resident and former St. George’s School employee Toni Ciany, who helped start the Ramleh Benefit Yard Sale, also emailed me.

“Sigh, I just saw your post about dorm waste,” she wrote. “Did I never tell you that in 2001, when I had just begun a job at St. George’s School, I was so dismayed by this end-of-year waste that I started a collection of all of this stuff from 200 dorm rooms, sorted, cleaned, organized and priced it and had a sale in the hockey rink every year that continues there to this day? Waste of any kind is a very dirty word to me. Such a crying shame.”

One reader appreciated the coverage, and noted the issue “seems like it would make for the perfect project for some students working on sustainability.”

“I loved your piece on the collecting/reusing/recycling issue at Brown!,” she wrote. “I have personally gotten some great stuff from the curb … but it is a huge problem and I’m so glad these women are taking it on. It’s kind of shocking that Brown isn’t doing more about it.”

That sentiment was shared in several emails and comments at the end of the piece.

Another reader noted many colleges have student-run organizations that collect discarded items at the end of the year and sell them to students in a reuse store.

“I’ve always thought this a fantastic idea for reducing waste, fundraising, and saving students money on dorm move-in,” she wrote. “Some have collection spots for community donation and others have end-of-year rummage sales, which is an alternative to having to store and run an ongoing enterprise. The only downside of that is that many college kids are not forward-thinking nor do they want to spend the money to store things. Selling them a cheap mini-fridge or lamp at move-in when they want one is ideal. I assume any endeavor would take a few cycles to get to be part of student behavior, but once kids learn about a way to score good, cheap stuff that’s convenient … I think this would really take off.”

She provided links to several college-based initiatives, including at the University of New Hampshire, University of Arizona, University of Maryland, Dickinson College, and Williams College.

A University of San Diego graduate proudly reported her alma mater still collects items at move-out and then sells them for cheap to new students at the beginning of the following school year.

“When I was a student at Providence College, I helped redirect end of year waste,” another reader wrote. “Emmanuel House in Providence was willing to take sheets (used or new), the Refugee Dream Center was willing to take new/unopened items (comforters), My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) in MA would come to look through furniture pieces (mainly desks, trunks, etc). The Campus Ministry Center allowed us to store items there and MBK would pick them up with their moving trucks.”

She graduated in 2019, so she isn’t sure what is being done now or if those organizations would still be willing to accept items.

The continued landfilling of perfectly good stuff is a lazy problem Providence’s institutions of higher learning should be able to solve without relying on community volunteers. But since the problem persists, it’s nice to know there are people who actually care.

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.