There’s nothing like coming back to campus after summer.

The bags are packed and worldly possessions are stuffed into anything with wheels. The traffic is terrible every year, but a less obvious problem is growing: move-in waste.

You’ve seen it as you’ve tried to make your way through Champaign and Urbana. As students move their stuff either from their homes or a friend’s place in lieu of an active lease, it is obvious that we are being incredibly wasteful.

Used furniture, mattresses, old TVs, appliances, shelving and boxes of all sizes line the streets of town. And for the most part, their final destination is the dump or incinerator.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

While dangerous and messy, a dive into a dumpster can yield vast treasures. While it is quite amazing what people will throw away rather than reuse, acquiring a new couch, chair or packing materials should not be that difficult.

If you want to get rid of usable items, leave them out with a clearly marked sign saying “free.” It may be out of your way sooner than you think and those dumpsters will have more space for refuse that really needs to be in there.

Additionally, a great way to efficiently downsize your possessions is to use Craigslist.org or Facebook’s marketplace feature, both of which have a free section.

There is also a great event at the University YMCA called the Dump & Run that aims to help with the waste problem and help the community at the same time.

While they do not accept large items or nonworking electronics, it is a very convenient place to get rid of those knick-knacks that you do not have room for.

The best part is that everything collected will be part of a huge garage sale at the Stock Pavilion next week to benefit the organization.

If you want to go the extra mile, ask other local charitable organizations what they could use. It may be possible to help needy members of the community with your donations.

However, what may help the most is to ask yourself if there is some other creative use for something you are going to throw away.

While we will never fully eliminate the waste associated with the back to campus migration, if students become more proactive while we move, we could vastly reduce the burden we place on the environment.

Look at it this way, if we all do our part on move-in weekend, freshmen will not be the only ones who get free stuff.