It is not just bottles, bike keys and gloves that are found on campus. The reception desks also regularly receive jewelry, reading glasses and earbuds, and FMC employee Marta Pawlak knows that even official documents such as passports, driver’s licenses and once even a residence permit have been found. “When a silk scarf found in Matrix was returned to its owner, she was extremely happy. Sometimes, the emotional value is very high.” Another example she mentions is a watch belonging to a student’s deceased grandfather, which had been left on a sink. That too was returned.

But not everyone knows where they lost something or thinks of going to a reception desk to ask if their umbrella or glove might have been found. Since October, FMC has been putting those lost items on iLost.co, a digital platform that shows what has been found and at which reception desk you can retrieve it after a valid claim.

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“Over the past five months, 700 items have been posted on iLost, and 200 of them have been returned to their owners,” says Ruud Rijkers, facility account manager. “Legislation dictates that we keep items worth less than 450 euros for three months. After that, we can dispose of them, and it used to be that everything was taken to a waste disposal company. Items with a higher value are handed over to the security department, which is required to keep them for 1 year.”

However, since TU/e is committed to a waste-free campus, and because it is simply a waste to throw away usable items, FCM came up with a plan. Pawlak: “We went in search of a good cause and eventually chose Terre des Hommes, an organization that aims to prevent child exploitation. They use the money they obtain by selling our found items in their thrift store on Leenderweg for this purpose.” Pawlak gave Terre des Hommes employees a tour of the campus upon introductions. “They were very impressed and thrilled that we thought of them. Now that I’ve shown them that the Dopper bottles can be completely disassembled for hygienic cleaning, they would like to take them as well.”

Sportswear

Towels, shoes and shirts are regularly left behind at the Student Sports Center. If they are wet, from shower water or sweat, they are washed by an external laundry service. The thrift store is very happy with the sportswear. This time, they’re getting two full garbage bags.

The arrangement FMC made with the aid organization is that, depending on the quantity, they will come and collect the items between two and four times a year. For TU/e, more is not necessarily better. “It is, of course, better when fewer items are lost and/or more are found,” says Rijkers.

Everything was picked up at the BBC collection point on Thursday. See main photo.