About Us

The 2020 Trash to Treasure sale scheduled Saturday, May 30 at Beaver Stadium has been canceled.

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Behind the Scenes

Benefits of the Trash to Treasure Program

It’s for a good cause:

Trash to Treasure makes it easy for students to help the local community, and all proceeds go to the Centre County United Way and its partner organizations.

It’s good for the environment:

It reduces the amount of waste the University puts into the landfill.

It’s good for the community:

The program gives residents of the Centre County community and beyond the opportunity to purchase usable items at a very low cost.

The Collection and Sorting Effort

Office of Physical Plant employees, assisted by United Way volunteers, collect items from the residence halls and transport them to the sale location. Items are sorted by community volunteers. Key elements of the effort included:

  • The Office of Physical Plant works closely with Housing to ensure that pick-ups are scheduled only when barrels were full, thus minimizing labor/equipment costs.
  • In preparation for sorting, volunteers set up 400 tables.
  • Residence hall collections start before finals and run through the final day of hall occupancy.
  • Volunteer coordinators supervise 400+ volunteers.

The Sale

Several thousand shoppers—including 2,000+ annually who pay the $5 “early-bird” admission fee—attend the June sale each year. Strategies employed on sale day include:

  • Items are sorted into different “departments” (clothes, toys, etc.) to make shopping easier.
  • Prices are reviewed annually for fairness and often compared against local yard sale prices.
  • Unsold items are donated to local charities.

The Results

The Trash to Treasure program  significantly impacts  our community. Annually, this event:

  • Averages 60 tons of donated items.
  • Saves Penn State more than $14,000 in labor and equipment costs.
  • Brings in more than 500 volunteers.

First Year (2002)

72 tons donated
$16,119 raised

Second Year (2003)

69 tons donated
$39,773 raised

Third Year (2004)

80 tons donated
$55,545 raised

Fourth Year (2005)

73 tons donated
$53,175 raised

Fifth Year (2006)

66 tons donated
$50,838 raised

Sixth Year (2007)

65.4 tons donated
$49,230 raised

Seventh Year (2008)

61.2 tons donated
$55,357 raised

Eighth Year (2009)

63.4 tons donated
$62,647 raised

Ninth Year (2010)

66.5 tons
$57,400 raised

Tenth Year (2011)

63.5 tons
$57,643 raised

Eleventh Year (2012)

76.5 tons
$60,855 raised

Twelfth Year (2013)

70 tons
$50,214 raised

Thirteenth Year (2014)

47.2 tons
$61,328 raised

Fourteenth Year (2015)

43.7 tons
$57,931 raised

Fifteenth Year (2016)

40 tons
$58,888 raised

Sixteenth Year (2017)

33 tons
$55,683 raised

Seventeenth Year (2018)

35.2 tons
$51,087 raised

Eighteenth Year (2019)

48 tons
$63,596 raised

Nineteenth Year (2020)

CANCELED

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