Cleaning supplies, dishes and a variety of odds and ends left behind by Slippery Rock University students after classes and finals ended last week aren't going away.

A graduate student with a bachelor's degree in environmental studies and sustainability is practicing what she learned by making sure the unwanted items don't end up in a landfill.

Using a grant she applied for from the university, Tabatha Giacalone of Frederick, Md., collected boxes of unwanted items from students before they left campus for the summer and plans to give the bounty to incoming students in the fall.

“I was very involved with sustainability as an undergraduate student. I wanted to give back to the students and I wanted to get involved,” Giacalone said.

She said the idea of saving unwanted items came to her two weeks before the semester ended last Friday. She hurriedly applied for the grant, used social media and fliers to spread the word and got some help collecting from fellow graduate residence hall assistants.

Boxes were placed in the dorms; students deposited items they didn't want to take home with them.

“A lot of cleaning supplies, paper towels, disinfectant wipes, spray cleaners, mops, brooms, mirrors, dishes, cups, silverware. We even had a couple single brew coffee makers, toasters. Typical things used in dorm rooms,” Giacalone said.

The university's facilities department will store the items over the summer. Then, she said, she will let students take what they need when the fall term begins.

“There's going to be a free shop where students can take what they need or forgot,” Giacalone said.

While she is working toward a master's degree in student affairs in higher education, she values what she learned as an undergraduate.

“There's just so much that gets thrown out. I think it's important to do our part to make the world better for every single thing living on this planet. If we don't take care of it now, then there won't be a planet for future generations,” she said.