Give It Forward - Circular Giving in Residential Halls

Every year, ANU residences generate a large volume of waste as students move out — much of it usable items simply discarded. The Give It Forward program gives students across all residences a consistent way to donate or redistribute these items rather than sending them to landfill. In 2025 it diverted almost 6 tonnes of usable goods, but two challenges remain: how to maximise quality donations, and how to reduce the dumping of rubbish and unusable items at donation sites.

This Living Lab invites a student team to treat the campus as a real-world testbed for behaviour change. Working alongside the program and residence partners, you'll investigate what drives students to donate rather than dump — convenience, site location, signage and social norms — and design practical interventions to trial in thhat might mean rethinking donation-point layouts, sharpening signage and education, piloting a low-friction "not sure" sorting table, or building a student-volunteer model that keeps sites clean.

Grounded in past donation data and evidence from comparable university programs, you'll prototype, test and measure your ideas on real donation quantity and quality — delivering an evidence-based contribution to a more circular, lower-waste campus.