EcoReps’ clothing SWAP promotes on-campus sustainability

By Prasi Desai     10/3/23 11:48pm

Rice EcoReps hosted a two-day clothing exchange Sept. 27-28 prior to the Sid ’80s public. Students were able to donate unwanted clothes and receive clothes free of charge.

According to EcoRep Valentina Osorio, a senior at Hanszen College, the acronym SWAP stands for Sustainable Wardrobes At Publics. 

Osorio said the EcoReps observed that many students would buy more clothes or discard their used ones prior to publics, leading to a large amount of clothing waste.

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“Promoting that sustainability, especially with fast fashion, is really important,” Osorio said.

Osorio and Will Rice College EcoRep Alexander Cho said the event, primarily organized by the Will Rice and Hanszen EcoReps, was a success and served as a good learning opportunity for future SWAPs. Cho also said the EcoReps hope to streamline their process of collecting clothes and promoting the event in the future.

Aanchal Thapa, a senior and Will Rice EcoRep, estimated approximately 100 students attended the SWAP.

According to Osorio, future plans for SWAPs include setting a permanent location so the process of swapping clothes would continue year-round. Cho said the EcoReps hope to host SWAPs around future publics, but specific dates and logistics are still being discussed. 

“You could donate clothes after you go to the publics, grab clothes that other people have donated from past years, even, and continue that,” Osorio said.

Sid Richardson College freshman Zoe Gupton said she didn’t go to the last clothing SWAP, but hopes to attend in the future. 

“It’s a good way to expand your wardrobe and try on new clothes,” Gupton said.

Thapa said she hopes to improve the visibility of EcoReps in colleges and across campus. She said more visibility would improve communication between EcoReps and the student body regarding events and opportunities.

“I feel like students are so disengaged from this part of the world … People call me the composting police because that’s what they see me as, but I don’t think they know that I’m an EcoRep,” Thapa said. 

Bird said EcoRep-hosted activities within residential colleges and across campus include a campus-wide sustainability day and the Green Dorm Initiative Week. 

In the same week as the clothing SWAP, the EcoReps hosted multiple other events including cyanotype printing workshops, a trip to the Rice Village Farmers market and a vegan sushi-making class.

Osorio said the EcoReps also recently launched sustainability badges that students could put on their door to certify that their dorm is a sustainable place. 

“The EcoRep program is definitely trying to expand what it does and get the campus a lot more engaged in thinking about sustainability,” Osorio said.

According to Thapa, EcoReps publish notices about future events, including clothing SWAPs, on college bulletin boards and on the Rice Office of Sustainability’s Instagram page.

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