Campus SWAP Shop needs you

The SWAP Shop in the main UMass Chan Medical School building on the Worcester campus is open, re-organized and ready for your visit this new academic year. Located in S5-320, it's a destination for collecting or donating useable office supplies, lab equipment and more.

“With more people returning to campus, we wanted to make sure the SWAP shop was ready for business,” said Michelle Smith, energy and sustainability engineer at UMass Chan. “And we also want to introduce the “SWAP” concept to the new members of our community.”

SWAP stands for “Surplus With A Purpose.” UMass Chan students, faculty and staff are encouraged to bring surplus office supplies, office furniture (such as desk chairs and other small items) or laboratory equipment to the SWAP Shop for others on campus to take and extend the life of useable supplies.

The SWAP Shop accepts office and lab equipment and supplies that you can bring to the room by yourself, except chemicals, biologicals, isotopes, or needles. Any lab equipment must be appropriately decontaminated before being transported and dropped off at the shop. Large pieces of furniture or major capital items are not accepted. Those items can still be repurposed, but should be handled through the UMass Chan Purchasing Department’s asset moving policy. Any electronic devices, like printers or other computer peripherals that can store information need to be wiped clean of all data before being deposited at the shop.

“Over the years the community has exchanged thousands of pounds of materials that otherwise may have ended up in the waste stream,” Smith said. “Before COVID, the shop was pretty busy so we encourage people to keep it in mind now. Save money and support sustainability by checking in often. And remember to use the sign-in book when you visit.”

Here is a sampling of items now available at the SWAP Shop.