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UB SWAP recycles items for reuse on campus
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
Need a new computer monitor? Looking for a new home for that filing cabinet other than the hallway outside your office door?
Then "Just SWAP It" via UB SWAP, an online, internal supply and equipment exchange program for UB faculty and staff organized and operated by Procurement Services.
The idea behind UB SWAP is to provide another option to faculty and staff for redistributing equipment and supplies that are no longer needed in one department, but could be reused elsewhere on campus, explains Judith Miller, assistant vice president for procurement services, who helped to organize the program with Theresa H. Bell, director of inventory services, and Louise Lougen, management information specialist, in conjunction with UB Green.
The program, which was launched on Feb. 2, came about in an effort to comply with Gov. George Pataki's Executive Order 111, which directs all state agencies to become more energy efficient and environmentally aware, Miller notes. A committee, which included representatives of UB Green, was formed to examine the university's purchasing methods and find ways to reduce their environmental impact.
"Our goal for this (UB SWAP) Web site is to redistribute and reuse unneeded supplies and equipment, thereby reducing unnecessary purchasing and, hopefully, also reducing the volume of items that end up in the landfill," she says. "UB SWAP also will save tax and research dollars and reduce the university's environmental impact."
Faculty and staff interested in either acquiring or recycling supplies or equipment can go to the UB SWAP Web site at http://ubbusiness.buffalo.edu/swap. Once users have entered their UB IT names, they can either view all listings or add their own listing. The listing of 90 items available as of Tuesday morning ranged from computer monitors, laptops and toner cartridges to fax machines, desks and coffee and end tables. All but one of the items listed were free.
"There is the option to charge for an item, but people are so happy to find a new home for their items that they are not worrying about the cost," Lougen says.
Those interested in a particular item can click on the item to get a detailed description. Once an item is selected via the "I want item" button, an email is automatically sent to the person listing the item. Owner and shopper then negotiate directly about the item, Lougen says.
The Web site carries the caveat that UB SWAP is for UB personnel only and is not intended for student use. Moreover, it warns that items must be obtained for work-related purposes only; the site is not intended for private use.
Lougen and Miller point out that UB SWAP is the only such program within the SUNY system. And while other institutions, such as the University of Wisconsin and the University of Vermont, have similar "recycling" programs, Millers says that the UB initiative is the only one that she is aware of that is Web-based.
Faculty and staff should "look here (UB SWAP) first before ordering anything new," Lougen says.
Adds Bell: "Departments can upgrade; they don't have to make due."