Hornet Reuse app shuts down amid success among students
The closure came after parent company Good Use closed down
Second-year health science major Carolina Garcia sits in front of the Multi-Cultural Center on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. She hopes to see Sac State add another reuse program for the Hornets to utilize.
October 27, 2022
The Hornet Reuse app announced its shutdown on Friday, Oct. 21, after a brief run at Sacramento State, the first college to utilize the application.
The app’s closure was the result of the parent company Good Use being forced to shut down. According to Ryan Todd, director of energy and sustainability at Sac State, investors determined Good Use was not spreading to other college campuses fast enough, making them pull funding from the application.
“We offered to purchase the app from [Good Use] for use at Sac State and they declined,” Todd said.
Earlier this year, Todd and his colleague, Waste & Sustainability Coordinator Laura Gonzales-Ospina, discussed a plan for the Sac State community to be able to reuse items. Shortly later, Good Use contacted Todd about launching the app Hornet Reuse, at Sac State.
Second-year health science major Carolina Garcia has friends who have utilized Hornet Reuse, one even receiving a keyboard through the app.
“I think [Good Use] should let it go a little bit longer,” she said. “Students have barely learned about it.”
Todd is overall disappointed to see the app shut down after the success at Sac State. The app has had over 4,000 users since its launch on Earth Day earlier this year, according to Todd.
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Jessica Huynh, first-year computer science major, said she was sad to hear about the closure of Hornet Reuse but assumed it was closing due to not having enough usage on campus.
“When I looked on the app, there were so many people sharing their things; there was so much collaboration on reusing items on the app,” she said.
Huynh added that she hopes Sac State will take on an endeavor to make their own app since it would be very beneficial for the students.
Good Use recently contracted with Stanford University as their second customer following Sac State’s success, according to Todd.
Hornet Reuse has facilitated the reuse of over 3,000 pounds of items from the Sac State community in its six months on campus, according to the email sent to users.
“The success of the app has shown us that there is a definite need for something like this at Sac State and we will be exploring various options to find a replacement,” Todd said.
Todd encouraged any students, staff or faculty who have any ideas about a replacement or a similar app to reach out to [email protected].
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Third-year civil engineering major Angel Lopez said she was familiar with the app and was sad to see it go after its popularity here at Sac State.
“It would be a good idea to have an actual place here on campus where people can pick up the stuff that way, they don’t have to meet each other in person since there will be staff or security there,” Lopez said.
