JULIANNA FLORES / ASSISTANT FEATURE EDITOR

College dorm rooms have become increasingly more integrated with personal tastes. Decorative tables, mattress toppers, lamps and bedding are all at risk to be thrown out at the end of the year. In past years students have piled up their goods outside of the Veteran Donation Boxes on campus.

Sign on dumpster placed by ECOExit to prevent students from simply throwing away unwanted items in Vista Dorms (2025)

In 2025 USD senior Tristan Mischke-Reeds saw a growing problem on campus, move-out waste. Director of Social Change and Student Engagement for the Changemaker HUB JC Rivas connected a team consisting of students who created EcoExit in response to the problem Mischke-Reeds saw. 

The goal is that the initiative can reduce landfill waste while making dorm living more affordable and sustainable for students living on campus in the fall by recycling previous students’ donated items.

The donation pods are temporary storage units placed near residence halls and behind the Pacific Ridge Apartments where students can drop off usable dorm items before moving back home for the summer.

USD sophomore Lilly Tebaldi is a student leader for ECOExit and spoke on her reasoning for the pods. 

“We have donation locations near each of the dumpsters so that students can make the sustainable choice, rather than just tossing out their lightly used items,” Tebaldi said. 

To prevent students from throwing valuable items into dumpsters, the ECOExit team placed signs on the dumpsters stating, “STOP! Don’t let your items go to waste,” pointing to a sign with information about where to drop off your items at the ECOExit pods. 

The signs were able to deter some students efficiently and prevented unwanted waste in dumpsters.  

 “We had three donation locations around campus and saved over 4.3 tons worth of waste,” Tebaldi stated. “This year, we grew into our second pilot and will have six donation sites in each of the living areas around campus.”

This option for students provides a way they can give back to the USD community. 

“In the fall, ECOExit hosts an event called EcoShop where students can take these gently used items and reuse them to decorate their current living space,” Tebaldi stated. “We were completely cleared out of all the items within the first 90 minutes of EcoShop.”

While ECOExit focuses specifically on dorm move-out waste, students have traditionally relied on the campus Veteran Donation Boxes to dispose of unwanted belongings. These boxes are also placed near resident dorms. 

USD junior Madelyn Tobin spoke about why she decided not to use ECOExit last year. 

“
I didn’t have much to donate, and I felt like most of my stuff was trashy,” Tobin continued. “[The veteran boxes] [were] at the bottom of my stairs. I threw stuff off the stairs and into the pile.”

The Veteran Boxes and ECOExit have different purposes. While ECOExit does not take clothing items, the Veteran Boxes do. The ECOExit pods will fit more awkward size items such as a TV. 

USD first-year Mary-Clare Wilson spoke about her awareness of ECOExit. 

“I did know about this because I had some teachers mention it to me.” Wilson said. “I’ve seen it on Instagram and there’s a ton of flyers.”

USD junior Aliana Taliaferro recently spoke on a podcast about ECOExit and Tebaldi has spoken in classes at USD in order to increase awareness.

Recent sustainability efforts have become increasingly popular on campus. For example, Aromas is starting to use reusable mugs for those who dine in rather than wasting more cups. This can also have a positive impact on students actively choosing to be sustainable. 

Students in the coming weeks may opt to take part in ECOExit in efforts to create a more sustainable move-out process. 

ECOExit Pod outside of Vistas Dorms (2025) . Aliana Taliaferro (junior)