Secondhand Festival – A lifesaver for students in autumn 

As the school year begins in the fall, many college students move to a new city or even a completely new country. Amid the hustle and bustle of starting school, there may not be time or resources to think about what is needed for a new home, or which stores to visit and how to get there without a car.

Since the start of school is a hectic time for many, our group of Turku UAS’ interns pondered how we could ease this busy period and simultaneously lower the threshold for buying secondhand items. This led to the development of the idea for the Secondhand Fest, an event that combines reuse with student needs. The event was organized by Baltic2Hand project, and we decided to collaborate with Ekotori from Turku and the Southwest Finland Waste Management’s textile recycling store Lemppari. The event took place in Turku UAS’ campuses.

The event was scheduled for the fall, about a month after the start of school, and it received a very warm reception. We also fortunately found the event to be timelier and more necessary than initially thought. Items for sale included everything from small electronics and linens to furniture and clothing at affordable prices. Exchange students, in particular, bought a lot of sweaters, mittens, and hats. Generally, textiles and items moved well, prices were affordable, and the products were necessary for many students. 

Before organizing the event, we visited different secondhand operators in the Turku area. We also created a list of these operators and their locations, as we wanted to make them visible to students. This list could be accessed via QR codes displayed at the event. Through the list, we also discovered some new acquaintances ourselves.  

At the event, we also got to chat with a few students, and their overall feelings about the event were positive. Although the feedback was positive, challenges were not avoided. Difficulties included venue reservations and payment terminals. The day before the event, while storing items, we realized that the rented space was significantly too small, and not all items and textiles could fit in the storage. After a moment of frustration, we began looking for other possible spaces and managed to secure a larger classroom for the following days. Long days and too few helping hands also posed challenges, but we managed to overcome them! 

According to the plans, the event will be organized in the future as well, possibly even twice a year. A few development ideas emerged after the event, such as organizing payment terminals and anticipating moving variables, which will require more time in the future. 

Iida Kuortti & Emma Jokilammi
Energy and environmental students from Turku University of Applied Sciences

These materials were created in the Baltic2Hand project which is an Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021–2027 project that is co-funded by the European Union. Read more about the Baltic2Hand project.