The Environmental Art of Shopping

The FreeStore, a once-a-month event run by the Planet Blue Student Leaders (PBSL), is an ongoing effort to reduce waste, promote reuse, and build a more resilient campus community. The PBSLs collect and sort items from donation partners, the student move-out program, and unclaimed lost & found items. Using these materials, they create the event and curate an incredible, free pop-up shopping experience for all interested students to find new-to-them items. In 2026, the Planet Blue Student Leaders found new homes for over 2,000 pounds of clothes, shoes, household items, books, and so much more. We were so excited to be part of their many achievements this semester and wrote about our individual experiences, with the hopes that they will encourage others to participate in the FreeStore either as a customer or volunteer.

HARITHA’S EXPERIENCE (customer)

I heard about the FreeStore through ENVIRON 361 and was enticed by the promise of free items, but most importantly, keeping things in circulation for as long as possible. I was never a big thrifter, but this was due to my limited knowledge of thrift stores in Ann Arbor as a freshman still exploring campus. So, when presented with this opportunity, I was more than happy to indulge.

The line to enter was extremely long, and people had started lining up over half an hour before the PBSL FreeStore opened. It snaked past the Union Panera Bread, and I followed it to a spot at the very end. People kept adding on, and soon the line became a sort of community, with a buzz of excitement and chatter. Before I knew it, I had reached the entrance of the FreeStore, and could begin browsing through the various sections.

I was surprised to see the amount of stock they had, including everything from water bottles to books to brand-new clothes. After some looking around, I had come across a Brandy Melville zip-up and Princess Polly tank top. I couldn’t believe that, one, this was free, and two, it was this easy to contribute to a sustainable campus. The FreeStore is a circular economy intervention put into practice. A circular economy is a process that keeps products and materials in use, recirculating secondhand items to someone else who may need it to lessen material waste and overconsumption. My experience made me much more aware of the various initiatives happening around campus, and the ease of contributing to this important impact.

ANGIE’S EXPERIENCE (volunteer)

On March 11, I volunteered at the FreeStore along with Maddie. I have volunteered multiple times before, but this day was especially memorable because of the official move of the entire event to a larger room in the Union and the piloting of the Repair Cafe! The larger room gave PBSLs and volunteers the opportunity to put out much more stuff for people to look through, and we were able to admit a lot more people in the store at once. There was no theme for this store today (there usually is around holidays), but Maddie and I noticed a lot of spring/summer clothes put out for the warmer weather. We also noticed an entire section dedicated to just books when before, in the smaller room, we had limited space and were unable to do this. The Repair Cafe, partnered with Trash Club, was also a valuable experience. People could take their new items from the FreeStore or old ones they brought with them to add sew-on or iron-on patches, tailor a hem, sew a hole closed: all while learning a new skill they could take back with them! This addition to the FreeStore was very popular, and people really enjoyed the opportunity to customize their clothes.

It never gets old watching the event take place and seeing people find new-to-them items to take home. It was especially golden with the customization aspect from the Repair Cafe. Many people came up to Maddie and I, confused as to why we were hanging clothes and straightening up tables. Once we explained that we were volunteering, most people were extremely appreciative of our efforts and some even offered to help fold clothes once the extra bins came up. It was very rewarding to see that our actions spurred people to help out and to be more cautious when looking at available items so that the tables remained orderly. I got to see firsthand how my choice to volunteer and my conversations with the customers changed their behavior; not only did it make them more intentional with their actions and inform them what the deeper purpose behind the FreeStore really was, it showed me what a community the University of Michigan campus truly is.

YASH’S EXPERIENCE (behind the scenes)

As I was going into the FreeStore storage in the Union basement, I expected something fairly unstructured like a large collection of donated items loosely organized and managed, similar to some of the other volunteer places that I’ve experienced. But I was genuinely surprised by how organized everything was. Items were sorted into categories like sweatpants, men’s shirts, women’s shorts, and more on the shelves, racks, and bags. There was also a wide range of other items, including water bottles, textbooks, hats, and miscellaneous household goods. These items are transported and consolidated in the basement of the Michigan Union, where the sorting and storage process takes place.

However, I did notice some damaged goods, such as broken water bottles and heavily worn textbooks. But they all seem to be collected in the same boxes. Upon inquiry, I learnt  there’s no initial sort of items before the PBSLs receive them. They have to go through and remove damaged or unusable items and throw them away.

h the racks designated for the next FreeStore event. I ended up finding a sweatshirt that I had lost a few months earlier in a residential hall laundry room. It had likely made its way through the lost-and-found system and into the FreeStore pipeline. It was still in very good condition, despite passing through multiple stages of collection and sorting.

Although the room itself was somewhat dusty, the items were well-maintained and thoughtfully arranged. Inquiring about deeper logistics of the FreeStore, I learnt about how items are moved from storage to actual events that happen above in the Michigan Union. Everything is placed on wheeled wagons, or on rolling racks to make them easy to transport and are brought up by elevators to the event space. A lot of this work is already done by the PBSL team earlier in the month to make life easy and more straightforward for the volunteers during the day of the event, like categorizing the clothing and throwing away damaged items.

Check out this video of our experience!

MADDIE’S EXPERIENCE (summary of it all)

I recently had the opportunity to help organize surplus goods at the PBSL FreeStore, and the experience proved to be far more eye-opening than I anticipated. Working behind the scenes gave me a much deeper appreciation for the enormous effort, coordination, and commitment that sustainability initiatives demand from both student employees and staff. The FreeStore’s storage area has been undergoing significant preparations ahead of the upcoming year. Because the PBSLs partner with multiple student organizations, University of Michigan departments, and city groups, the range of donated and surplus items is incredibly diverse; this makes thoughtful organization both challenging and critical to the program’s day-to-day function and long-term growth. One of the highlights of the experience was speaking with Student Life Sustainability about the details of the collection process. They provided insight into how items move through the system — from donation/unclaimed lost items, to storage to redistribution — and added important context to the work we were doing. During our group’s “mini tour,” we also had the chance to observe a community center where lost and found items are collected, stored, and eventually relocated if unclaimed after a period of time. I learned about the coordinated efforts between Housing partners and Community Center staff in the residence halls to consolidate three pick-up locations: Central, North, and the Hill. PBSL then arranges transportation from these locations and other campus partners to storage in the Union, where the clothes are then sorted and prepped for upcoming events. These conversations and observations made the logistical backbone of the FreeStore much more tangible.

This experience has given me a lot to think about in relation to our coursework. Kaiser’s reading on the importance of multiple forms of knowledge resonated strongly with me here — the PBSL FreeStore operates at the intersection of practical, community, and ecological knowledge, and it takes all three to keep it running effectively. While sorting through an abundance of forgotten water bottles, I contemplated how many less there might be given a circular economy that functioned for endurance, rather than attention. The FreeStore exists as a symbol of that shared desire, extending the shelf life of products and offering them to those who may need them most. Reflecting on my two visits, I can see how different — and how complementary — they were. During my first experience, I worked directly with shoppers on the retail floor: folding and hanging clothes, organizing displays, and assisting people as they browsed. It was hands-on, people-centered work that gave me a window into how the FreeStore serves its community. My second visit was a completely different kind of engagement as I worked behind-the-scenes.

Working closely with my team in the storage room, we had to constantly adapt as new information emerged and priorities shifted. It required flexibility, communication, and a willingness to problem-solve in real time. While navigating that process, my team also began brainstorming ideas for footage and photos for our course final, which added a creative layer to an already dynamic experience. My group hoped to capture the essence of the PBSL FreeStore, while also engaging the student body with the incredible organizational efforts that occur behind the scenes. I am genuinely grateful to have experienced both sides of the FreeStore’s operations, as each has shaped how I think about sustainability, collaboration, and the kind of knowledge that drives meaningful change.

Conclusion

We have learned so much through the FreeStore and our invaluable experience partnering with Student Life Sustainability for our course this semester. We cannot wait to see the FreeStore thrive more and more as the years go on and become one of the biggest and best ways to promote waste diversion and a circular economy on a highly consumerist college campus. Check out the FreeStore when it returns to campus! Remember to donate your clothes and shop at this new-to-you thrift local 🙂

Angie, Haritha, Yash, Maddie, Sabrina and Haley are students who completed this project in the ENVIRON 361 course.