Welcome to Harvard's Recycling and Surplus Center, the store with no sticker shock
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
But here — among the foragers hauling away all the lamps, rugs, and T-shirts they can carry — that war over dollars feels very far away.
Advertisement
'Harvard will outlast all of them,' said Garnett, who has tried to come to the center most weeks since 2005, back when it was located in an Allston parking lot. An antiques dealer with a warehouse in Lynn, Garnett generally seeks out small furnishings to resell, but on this visit, he stumbled across a geometric painting in a rainbow of colors.
He wasn't yet sure if he would try to flip it, or keep it to decorate his Chelsea condo.
An antiques dealer with a warehouse in Lynn, Wayne Garnett generally seeks out small furnishings to resell, but on this visit to Harvard's Recycling and Surplus Center, he stumbled across a geometric painting in a rainbow of colors.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
'It has helped me make a living, that's for sure,' he said of the center. 'It's been a central part of that.'
Advertisement
The idea behind the center, which has existed in various forms for more than two decades, is to minimize the waste generated by students, professors, and administrators on the sprawling campus. When undergrads want to offload their mini-fridges at the end of the semester, a dorm wants to discard hundreds of air purifiers, or the Divinity School wants to ditch their pews, it all comes here.
The takers are many: Resellers like Garnett looking to make a quick buck. Do-gooders passing the donations on to nonprofits. And, of course, people squeezed by
'I still get a lot of people that will come by my office before they leave, and they're like, 'Do I need to check out? How much are these things?'' said Dailey Brannin, Harvard's recycling services supervisor and overseer of the center. 'And I'm like, 'Nope, it's all free.''
That's a boon for people like Miriam Nussbaum, who stopped by on a Thursday in late May — the height of the frenetic undergraduate move-out season. Nussbaum, who receives Supplemental Security Income, has enough money to cover her basics — rent, groceries, phone. But it's more of a stretch to afford 'things that make a space a home,' she said, like the rug and fake plant she unearthed to bring back to her studio apartment in Brookline public housing.
'A lot of people who are higher earners don't really think about the cost of the little…' She paused. 'The little everythings.'
Advertisement
Mountains of books, a hockey stick, and a balloon inflater were all on offer at Harvard's Recycling and Surplus Center on a recent Thursday.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
And the center's got an embarrassment of everythings. On that Thursday in late May, a cat tree, balloon inflater, and baby grand piano were all on offer. A small library's worth of books, and bins upon bins of clothes — some of it with labels like Zara, Brooks Brothers, and Levi's — were also up for grabs.
Not everything was a gem, though, including a single boxing glove, an opened box of tampons, and a spiral notebook filled with math problems.
'If you can buy it in a store, or order it online, or have it fabricated, we've seen it,' said Rob Gogan, Harvard's onetime recycling and waste manager, who retired in 2020.
The selection wasn't quite this eclectic when the center got its start under Gogan. The way he tells it, 'It started because of carpal tunnel syndrome.'
Around the turn of the millennium, he said, many students were beset by the ailment — a result of using desktop computers on dorm-room desks not designed for keyboards.
So when the school ordered new desks, Gogan was tasked with disposing of several hundred old ones. He put them in the parking lot behind his office and let people know they were available to snag. Pretty soon, more furniture started coming his way, and the parking-lot setup turned into a full-fledged operation.
A cluster of lamps at Harvard's Recycling and Surplus Center.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Today, the center is staffed by Brannin and another full-time employee, some volunteers, and two box truck drivers who make their way around Harvard's campus to pick up unwanted goods and shuttle them back to the center. In the last year, Brannin estimated, the drivers picked up more than 15,000 items.
Those items are as diverse as the cast of characters ransacking them. An Ebay merchant poring over the book bins, clutching a gadget that tells him the resale value of each title. A new mom starting a remote software engineering job, grabbing as many computer monitors as she could find. A nonprofit volunteer lugging away a scad of lamps for people in need.
Advertisement
'It's a good day,' said Marty Blue, the nonprofit volunteer.
The crowds are nothing compared to pre-COVID, Brannin said, when the center had a lottery system to manage
the throngs of people. (In addition to welcoming the public on Thursdays, the center is open to nonprofits and Harvard affiliates on Mondays.)
The sparser attendance is just fine by regular patrons, who have fostered good-spirited 'community vibes,' Brannin said — so long as people stick to their own piles.
'We do get a lot of newcomers, still, and the people that have been coming for years will show them around, tell them how things work,' said Brannin. 'Or they'll say, 'Don't tell your friends, because we want to keep it to ourselves.''
People line up with shopping carts to enter Harvard's Recycling and Surplus Center on a recent Thursday.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Dana Gerber can be reached at
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
Recession risk higher as uncertainty threatens U.S. economy: Economist Carmen Reinhart
Harvard professor Carmen Reinhart, former chief economist at The World Bank, discusses the health of and threats to the U.S. economy, President Trump's tariff policy, the fall of globalization, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, U.S. immigration policy and why people should care about national debt in this latest episode of CNBC's "The Bottom Line" with Lindsey Jacobson.
CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
Why changing monetary and immigration policies may be edging U.S. closer to a recession: Carmen Reinhart
"Recession risks are higher than average," Carmen Reinhart, Harvard professor and former chief economist at The World Bank, said in a recent episode of CNBC's "The Bottom Line." Reinhart pointed out that the U.S. is now in an era of more volatile markets, financial instability and higher interest rates, brought on primarily, she said, by unpredictable market frameworks. "We have policy uncertainty from all angles, whether it's tariffs, ... there's concerns about President Trump's attacks on the Federal Reserve," said Reinhart. "Then there's a lot of geopolitical uncertainty as well." Reinhart warned that with President Trump's immigration policies and attempts to bring manufacturing back to the States, among other trends, the current U.S. shift away from globalization may further slow population growth in the country, and in turn economic growth, potentially leading to a recession. "We shouldn't be overly confident that a lot of the manufacturing that left will ever return," Reinhart said. "More globalization, more global cooperation is certainly preferred for everyone than variations of a Cold War and a fragmented system." All Americans will be affected by these changes, noted Reinhart. To protect their bottom lines in the meantime, she advised investors and workers alike to emphasize hedging across operations and embrace medium-term to longer-term investment plans. Watch the video to find out more about the fiscal and geopolitical policies currently putting the U.S. economy at risk, why people should care about the rising national debt, and what might be next for the country's financial future.
Forbes
5 hours ago
- Forbes
How To Find Mentors Who Align With Your Goals
I can't overstate the importance of mentorship throughout one's career. The right mentor will freely share their expertise and experience and give you the guidance needed to grow your success. If you can find a mentor who is also well-aligned with your experiences and goals, that will benefit you even further. In college, I met organizational psychologist Dr. Laura Morgan Roberts after she guest lectured at my psychology lab. Her work reflected some of what I wanted to achieve in my career, so I seized the opportunity to connect. Afterward, I walked with her to her car and asked if I could help as a research assistant. She agreed, and the relationship has since grown into a decades-long mentorship with Laura. In the years since, she has supported me in some of the most pivotal moments in my career, including advising my fellowship, writing a recommendation for grad school, and later co-authoring my first Harvard Business Review article. Laura is a perfect example of how a well-aligned mentor-mentee relationship can prove invaluable. Let's look at some actionable steps you can take to identify a mentor who is well-aligned with your personal and professional goals. 1. Know Your Direction To find a mentor that aligns with your goals, you must clearly define your desired direction. What skills are you interested in developing? What about your job do you most enjoy? Least enjoy? In what areas do you excel? Where do you struggle? Mentorship is all about learning through the knowledge and experiences of others, so questions like these will help tell you where you want to go and what else you need to know to get there. 2. Put Your Feelers Out Great mentors can come from inside or outside your organization. Be on alert for potential candidates who have similar shared experiences, such as navigating the workplace as a non-dominant identity. Parallels in their life can reveal unspoken rules, which can prove highly beneficial to know. Networking events, industry conferences, and professional organizations are all good places to start looking for a mentor who's right for you. Seek out individuals whose accomplishments resonate with your definition of success, whether that's their leadership style, work-life balance, or community impact. 3. Do Your Research Before approaching someone about mentorship, it's good to look into their background to ensure it could be a good fit. Even if you hit it off with them in person, that might not equal professional alignment between the two of you. Almost anyone can provide some level of mentorship, but the magic happens when their experience dovetails perfectly with your aspirations. When there's a clear overlap between their expertise and your goals, mentors can offer relevant, impactful, and actionable advice that fuels your growth. 4. Let It Be Informal to Start Any face time you can get with a potential mentor is an opportunity for you to learn. Asking someone to be your mentor can feel like a lot of lifting on their end, especially if they've just met you. The trick is to find a way to add value rather than simply ask for support. My advice is to identify a way you could make their life easier while still learning from them. This will give you time with a potential mentor without asking them to formally invest in your success. In helping, you demonstrate your dedication and learn through doing. You can then develop the relationship naturally and transition to formal mentorship over time. 5. Be Open to Mentorship on All Levels Some of the most valuable mentors come from unexpected places. For example, junior colleagues often bring a fresh perspective on emerging technologies or trends. Further, individuals outside your field can provide diverse insights, giving you a creative viewpoint for working out solutions. Finding a mentor that aligns with your goals requires networking, research, and above all, asking for help. In my career, I've found that most people want to help; it's just up to you to reach out. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no. And the benefits you'll reap far outweigh the risk of asking to walk someone to their car.
