Trash 2 Treasure is a pilot project, which aimed to redirect reusable items in the Milton Park area in April 2018. During move-out, students who leave the neighborhood often abandon their furniture and belongings on the streets to be picked up by municipal garbage collection. To address this wasteful problem, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) developed a program to collect these items and donate them to charitable organizations like Renaissance, which sells second-hand items and has a social-reintegration mandate, and the Welcome Collective, which provides furniture to asylum seekers in Montreal. Unusable items were sent to be recycled by Matt Canada or the Eco Centre.
Along with SAESEM, an environmental non-profit organization, SHHS Facilities was a proud partner in this project: we provided storage space and administrative assistance with the coordination and implementation of this exciting sustainability initiative. The efforts of the Trash 2 Treasure team were recognized in several media pieces by CBC Radio and CTV News. We're looking forward to continuing our work with Trash 2 Treasure in the coming years!