Temple University has implemented a Surplus Property program that will promote sustainability on campus. The program is led by surplus property coordinator, Eric Gryzbowski. Gryzbowski manages the materials in Temple’s North Philadelphia warehouse. In previous years, Temple buildings and the Temple central warehouse have been crowded with obsolete tools and furniture.
The new surplus program allows temple departments to schedule the removal of these seldom-used items, and generate revenue in the process. There’s also an online surplus database of all of these items, so they may be redistributed within the university. Objects are listed for public sale after they have been in the inventory for two weeks.
Surplus property programs are advantageous for many reasons. They eliminate the cost of throwing out larger items, allow a beneficial redistribution of items on campus, and they create a profit. Additionally, items are donated to community organizations if they go unsold.
Kathleen Grady, Temple’s sustainability director, weighed in on the program, saying, “The best thing we can do at Temple is reuse the item internally because there will always be an opportunity to sell it later.”
Thus far, Temple’s program has lived up to its expectation of being fiscally and socially beneficial. Since the program’s inception, Temple has helped outfit a hospital in Pakistan, as well as accruing a steady revenue for the university.
Temple belongs to the University Surplus Property Association, which helps universities maximize their resources with consideration of environmental and social impacts.