The shopping extravaganza of the year took place on Sunday, as excited buyers lined up in the wee morning hours for a chance at door-busting deals on everything from books, to cleaning supplies, to storage containers.

No, this wasn’t the Labor Day edition of Black Friday. It was Northeastern’s Trash2Treasure Welcome Week sale at the Curry Student Center.

The annual student-run initiative involves collecting donations of gently-used items from students during the spring move-out period, and then selling those items back to fellow students at a one-day sale during Welcome Week. A sub-committee of the Husky Environmental Action Team, Trash2Treasure was launched the Trash2Treasure program in 2009 to reduce waste associated with move-out and teach students best practices for disposing items they no longer want.

[caption id="attachment_52760" align="alignnone" width="590"] Shanu Nagamani, BHS'16, looks through the items on sale at the Trash2Treasure event on Sunday. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University[/caption]

It's like Christmas

And if Sunday’s sale was any indication, one student’s “trash” is certainly another’s “treasure.” Students started lining up at 5:30 a.m. for the 10 a.m. event. When the doors opened, the line snaked around the second floor of Curry and down to the first.

In the spring Trash2Treasure collected more than 3,000 cubic feet of usable materials that went on sale Sunday, including glassware, hangers, rugs, shoes, athletic equipment, mini-fridges, and stuffed animals. One student even donated a PlayStation 3 gaming system.

[caption id="attachment_52761" align="alignnone" width="590"] Students line up around the Curry Student Center Indoor Quad to get into Trash2Treasure. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University[/caption]

“It’s amazing what some people donate,” said Helen Ramsay, DMSB’16, Trash2Treasure’s lead event coordinator. “People have shown a great interest in what we do and understand our mission. It’s been an incredible year.”

Funds raised from this year’s sale will be given to about 20 Northeastern student groups that helped sort through donations in preparation for the sale.

For the first time ever, this year Trash2Treasures opened a second room in the Curry Student Center to display all the for-sale items, and rented out bins to shoppers to hold their findings. Twin sisters Davae and Kasia Gibson took full advantage of the bins, as they went home with a full container.

“This is amazing,” Davae, AMD’19, said as she ran to put something in her bin. “It’s like Christmas.”

Tip to people: Come early

First-timers shoppers at the Trash2Treasure sale, Kasia Gibson, E’19, said they noticed how crowded the event was last year and now know why. “We got here around 6:40 a.m. and standing in line for three and half hours was totally worth it,” she said.

 

[caption id="attachment_52762" align="alignnone" width="590"] Vinay Kumar Kapalavai, E'17, and Srikanth Goud, E'17, browse pots and pans at Trash2Treasure. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University[/caption]

Tim Kremsen, DMSB’17, was excited about some picture frames he found, which shared space in his bag with Northeastern-themed foam fingers.

“I came from Germany so I’m looking for pretty much everything,” he said.

Derryck Adu-Gyamfi, AMD’17, was hoping to find some Bluetooth speakers but came up empty on his first pass through the electronics area. He did manage to find a pair of shoes he liked.

“I’m just trying to find whatever I can at this point,” he said. “Tip to people: come early.”