Concordia’s austerity measures threaten another victim

Students are mobilizing to save the CUCCR amid risks of permanent closure

NewsGeneviève Sylvestre — Published November 5, 2024 4 minutes

The Students for the Centre for Creative Reuse (SFCUCCR), a new student coalition, has formed at Concordia with the goal of saving the Concordia University Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR) from its permanent closure. 

The CUCCR is a used material depot that connects students with free materials collected from Concordia’s various waste streams. The depot is fruitful with various materials like wood, fabric, ribbon, binders, kitchen supplies and more that students can use to work on various projects. 

SFCUCCR created an appeal form for students to sign “to prove the CUCCR’s importance to the members of Concordia’s community.” According to the appeal, the university has yet to renew the centre’s contract and, if it is not signed by December, the CUCCR will have to close its doors in April. 

SFCUCCR member Jonah Doniewski said that the coalition wants to show the university that students believe the CUCCR is worth keeping alive. 

“We're not trying to attack the university. We understand it comes from a place of really tight money constraints and funding constraints,” Doniewski said, “but ultimately [Concordia not signing the renewal contract yet] is a choice.” 

On top of being a coalition member, Doniewski is also a volunteer at the CUCCR. He said that students are often baffled that all of the materials inside the depot are free. 

“We live in a world [with] a lot of scarcity and competition, so free stuff doesn't really make any sense to a lot of people,” said Doniewski. 

After collecting their supplies, students use the check-out system to weigh their items and assess their value, allowing the CUCCR to keep track of its impact live on the Concordia website. 

“It's not like we're getting new stuff,” Doniewski said. “We're just finding the home for the old stuff.” 

So far this year, the CUCCR has already diverted 6334.42 kg of waste and saved students $43,394.10. Over the 2023-2024 school year, the centre saved students over $100,000. 

Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) finance coordinator Ryan Assaker has been very active in the movement to save the CUCCR, in part due to ASFA contributing a yearly fee-levy to the centre. 

“The CUCCR has been so vital in helping out the student community,” Assaker said, “and so, for ASFA, we can't just see an organization such as the CUCCR disappear in front of our eyes.”

Reuse programming and sustainability specialist Anna Timm-Bottos is the founder of the CUCCR and the only employee. 

According to her, without the CUCCR, most of the waste that the centre currently diverts would end up in a landfill, as it usually comes from departments with limited storage space. 

For Doniewski, volunteering at the CUCCR helped make him more aware of the abundance of waste at the university and globally. 

“Interacting with that abundance has completely changed the way that I sort of see the world and see the community,” he said, explaining that the sense of joy these items bring people gives him a sense of hope.

Assaker added that while he understands that Concordia needs to implement different financial measures, he takes issue with the administration making these decisions unilaterally.  

“We've had it happen with the shuttle bus, and now it's happening with the CUCCR and it's concerning [not only] as a student leader, but also as a student,” Assaker said. “You're making these decisions, you're not consulting the student base and then you're just basically pulling the rug [from] under our feet.”

For Timm-Bottos, the support has been overwhelming.“It really shows how much of a community project this is,” she said. “I may have been a leader in starting it, but it's really the community that is around us, the students, that make the project what it is.” 

Concordia University spokesperson Vannina Maestracci explained that no decision has been made about the future of the CUCCR and that the university values the CUCCR’s service to the community. 

Looking forward, the SFCUCCR is looking to host an art fair with work made using material from the depot to fundraise and raise awareness for the CUCCR. 

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 5, published November 5, 2024.