Campus & Community Engagement
About re:loom & GSU partnership
Re:loom is a program of Initiative for Affordable Housing, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization in Decatur, Georgia. GSU started its partnership with re:loom in January 2023 after Panther Dining applied for Sustainability Initiative’s 2023 Campus Sustainability Grant Program wanting to use re:loom to upcycle their used uniforms. The funds requested by Dining were going towards buying back all the upcycled swag from re:loom once it was made.
After being accepted into the program, we collected 161 clothing items from Dining. These items consisted of chef coats, t-shirts, hats, and pants. The reloom team was able to make 1300 upcycled swag items from that batch. They made GSU-themed keychains, lanyards, hair scrunchies, drink coozies, bracelets, jersey bags, and even rings!
This collaboration is a perfect example of the triple bottom line, people-plant-profit approach to sustainability, and here’s why:
- People: re:loom employs homeless and low-income individuals through weaving beautifully designed upcycled products, woven from donated materials
- Planet: By upcycling and weaving products, re:loom gives textiles a new life that would otherwise be destined for the landfill.
- Profit: re:loom re-invests 100% of its profits into life skill training and rehabilitation services for people they employ and their families, setting them on a path to sustainable self-sufficiency.
How to get re:loom swag
GSU students can get their hands on re:loom swag at Sustainability Initiatives tabling events which we post about on our awesome Instagram page. Some annual events that we regularly attend are Pounce Around Hurt Park, the Involvement Fair, and the Earth Week Festival.
Your impact
Every semester, as part of tuition, GSU students pay a $5 student sustainability fee which helps to fund sustainability initiatives like this one! So far, we’ve collected over 400 lbs. of clothing from Panther Dining and GSU Facilities department and we’re looking forward to expanding our partnerships across more departments in the coming years.
Raccoon Eyes
Raccoon Eyes is a food management waste system that was implemented in Georgia State’s Piedmont Central Dining Hall in early 2024.
Raccoon Eyes uses AI technology to scan food that individuals dispose of and to determine the type and weight of the food. Individuals can then give feedback on why they didn’t eat the food and the data gathered can be used by dining halls to find the most effective ways they can reduce food waste.
Raccoon Eyes allows Piedmont Central to:
- Change and tailor recipes
- Regulate portion sizes
- Save money
- Increase sustainability
- Enhance the dining experience for visitors.
GSU is the 2nd college to have Raccoon Eyes implemented in one of their dining halls. Raccoon Eyes was brought to GSU by the work of Sustainability Interns, Connie Santibanes and Erin Murphy, who researched, planned and wrote the grant application to the Campus Sustainability Grant Program to receive funding.
Raccoon Eyes was founded and created by Georgia Tech Students Nathanial Koh, Ivan Zhou, and Bown “Bruce” Tan in 2022 after they noticed how much food was being thrown away in Georgia Tech dining halls.
Insights about GSU’s Piedmont Central Dining Hall from Raccoon Eyes
According to Recyling Works, the average college student throws away approximately 142 lbs. of food a year. At Georgia State, between Jan. 15 – March 9, 14, 914 lbs. of food were wasted at Piedmont Central, which equates to $17,449 worth of food.
Not-so-fun Fact:
Food waste makes up 24% of landfills in the U.S., making it the most common type of waste, according to the EPA. Each discarded item not only represents lost food but also gallons of wasted water.
Below, our graph shows how different types of food waste contribute to water wastage and illustrates the equivalent number of water bottles that could be filled with this water.
What can students keep in mind when going to the dining halls?
- If in doubt, go with less food. You can always go back for more.
- Your eyes are bigger than your stomachs
- Sample new foods first, if you like them, you can back for more.