Open four days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10-2), TIOLI (Take It Or Leave It) is a completely free thrift store and donation center on Ithaca College’s campus. Originally located in the basement of Clarke Hall, they have recently started to relocate to a space next to Bogart Hall’s mailroom – which actually used to be Buzzsaw’s informal office.
One of TIOLI’s main goals is to promote a “a circular model of consumption”, meaning unused items stay on campus for others to reuse.
In a time where one can buy a completely new outfit (probably made from synthetic materials and underpaid/unpaid labor) and have it delivered to them within a few days, TIOLI provides a space to reduce waste and overconsumption.
Alicia Menduni, Acting Eco Rep Manager told Buzzsaw: “A program like this is particularly helpful and important on a college campus where so much gets thrown into dumpsters at the end of the year when people are moving out. However, we save as much as we can by advertising our program and having people donate things to us instead of throwing them out. Then, a month or two later, someone moving in for the year needs something that’s in TIOLI that would’ve otherwise been in the landfill.”
TIOLI usually puts donation bins around campus towards the end of the semester – keep an eye out for those! – but students can also donate items when they go to Bogart during the week and look around at the items. According to Menduni, “Eco Rep members sort the donations on their shift when TIOLI is open, or if there is an overwhelming amount of donations all at once, we will sort through the items during hours when TIOLI isn’t open.”
TIOLI isn’t the only way you can get involved with the Eco Reps, who are looking for more volunteers. The Reps also compost by collecting food scraps from on-campus apartments and they are part of Food Donation Fridays, which involves packaging and donating extra food from Campus Center dining hall.
You can follow the Eco Reps on Instagram at @icecoreps or reach out to them at ecoreps@ithaca@edu