Bucknell students plan Bison Thrift to promote sustainability, community support

Bucknell students are turning a former office space in the Environmental Learning Center into a thrift store that they say could trim clothing costs, keep usable items in circulation and give Lewisburg another visible reuse hub. Bison Thrift is planned for the fall 2026 semester in the old 067 office space next to the CAP Center, and seniors Elliott Kilgallen and Ella Slayton have spent two years shaping the project.

The store is being pitched as more than a place to buy secondhand clothes. Bucknell students involved in the effort say fast fashion, event-specific purchases and broader overconsumption generate a steady stream of waste on campus, especially when clothing is bought for a single occasion and then discarded. Slayton, who previously served as Sustainability Chair for Bucknell Student Government, has framed the project as a way to leave the university better than they found it while also pushing other institutions toward a lower-carbon, more circular model. Kilgallen, who also held the sustainability chair role, has said the initiative is meant to increase volunteering and build awareness in Bucknell and the wider Lewisburg community.

The project fits into a larger sustainability structure already in place at Bucknell. The university’s 10-year Plan for Sustainability@Bucknell publicly reaffirms a goal of carbon neutrality by 2030, and the Office of Campus Sustainability coordinates campus efforts through four university-wide working groups of students and employees. Bucknell’s Student Government Sustainability Committee says its purpose is to promote ecological health, fair and equitable societies and responsible management of financial resources, a mandate that makes a student-run thrift operation a natural fit.

Bison Thrift also builds on existing reuse and donation efforts. Bucknell’s annual sustainable move-out already redirects furniture, winter clothing, bedding, small appliances, non-perishable food and cleaning supplies to area partners including DIG Furniture Bank in Milton and the Union-Snyder Community Action Agency’s Food Hub. The students behind Bison Thrift have also worked with Bucknell Student Government, Religious and Spiritual Life and DIG Furniture Bank on Sustainable Move-Out efforts, giving the new store a foundation of campus and community relationships.

The startup phase will need money for student workers, equipment and the space itself, but the plan is for the store to become self-sustaining once sales begin. That matters in Union County because a student-led thrift shop can do more than move clothes off campus racks. It can shape buying habits, draw student traffic into a part of Lewisburg already tied to Bucknell life and create a practical model for how campus sustainability can spill into the borough economy. Bucknell’s Ecology Center, renamed in March 2026 after marking its 20th anniversary, adds another layer of environmental learning and community engagement around the project as Bison Thrift moves toward opening.