What is REPO?

REPO, one of the most active recycling efforts on campus, is not well known to students who don't frequent Harder Hall. People often mistake it for a mere storage facility. After exploring its inner workings, its past and its potential future, we can discover that the little trailer behind Harder Hall is much more profound and meaningful than most of us realize.

A student named Bland Hoke began the REPO project in the spring semester of 2006. Hoke had the idea to create a space to manage the overwhelming amount of waste that our campus creates. He used the funds allocated for a trash compactor to create REPO, then passed the project down to George Vidas and his co- coordinator Zane Hettinga.

REPO is currently located behind Harder Hall and hosts a container for extra equipment and materials that would otherwise be thrown away. Students in any department are free to take what they need to create their own project.

This space is a novel way of reducing the amount the trash that we collect and discard and it promotes the reuse of perfectly good resources. REPO has moved well over 8,000 pounds of materials in and out of the container. From yards of cloth to boxes of glass cups, the range of materials that can be taken and traded is vast.

Parents, students, staff and anyone who needs to get rid of their excess supplies can donate to REPO. Corporations are also welcome to donate. Currently REPO receives donations from Golden Paints, Stern and Stern and Andy Glandsman.

The organization is student-run and tax-exempt. Work study student Lauren Gilson opens the facility to the public every Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. There is also an option to pay two dollars and get a key to REPO.

When asked what REPO is, Vidas simply replied, “It is not a noun, it is a verb." REPO is not just a name for a container; it is also an efficient way to live. REPO is meant to encourage artists, engineers and all creators to participate in the exchange of resources. Advocates for the planet are currently calling for less waste and more innovation and REPO is a working model of how we can achieve both of these goals at once.