UC Berkeley's Cal Move Out and Cooperative Reuse program ran May 22–31 at Clark Kerr Campus, diverting an average of 200,000 pounds of student move-out goods per year — furniture, e-waste, and bicycles — before they hit the city's sidewalks. Mattresses route separately through NorCal moving services to the Berkeley transfer center.

For ten days each May, the southwest parking lot at Clark Kerr Campus becomes what the rest of Berkeley's sidewalks are trying not to be: a structured holding point for everything UC Berkeley students leave behind.

The Cal Move Out and Cooperative Reuse program ran May 22 through May 31 this year. Now in its eighth year, it was launched in 2018 by the Berkeley Student Cooperative with funding from the Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund. The lot at Clark Kerr accepts furniture, e-waste, and bicycles from departing students, faculty, staff, and alumni; mattresses are handled separately, routed through NorCal moving services to the Berkeley transfer center. Left curbside, that material puts residents on the wrong side of Berkeley's illegal-dumping ordinance, which sets fines at up to $500 per day.

The volume is not trivial. Kimiya Attar, a student coordinator with UC Berkeley's Zero Waste Coalition who works with the program, told ABC7 this week that the operation averages around 200,000 pounds of goods per year. In 2021, more than 2,500 community members showed up during the public access window to claim items free of charge. The pilot-year haul in 2018 included 50 sofas, over 60 desks, 40 chairs, and more than 100 mattresses.

Overflow furniture routes through a network of East Bay organizations: Chipman Relocation & Logistics handles free pickup and transport; Urban Ore, Uhuru Furniture, and Waterside Workshops absorb additional pieces. Clothing and small household goods go to Goodwill of San Francisco Bay.

Berkeley city officials have worked the Clark Kerr lot into their standard move-out guidance. The city issued a reminder in May urging students and landlords to use the program alongside the city's own bulky-waste pickup and 311 reporting options — the 311 team handles illegal-dumping complaints on weekday business hours.

The lot is empty now. The next run is next May.