When residents of Education City female student housing need an outfit for a surprise dinner or affordable decorations to revamp their rooms, they no longer head to the nearest mall. They go online. A WhatsApp group chat is helping over 400 students and alumni resell used items, supplement their income, and build a sense of community. 

Fatima Hayat, a graduate student at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, created the “Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose” group chat with a fellow student in 2021 after she noticed that the laundry room table in her residence hall was often piled high with unwanted clothes. These used pieces were often headed for a one-way trip to the waste bin. 

“When I first moved to Qatar, I realized life can be extravagant here,” Hayat said. “Luxury is abundant, and the concept of hand-me-down culture is practically non-existent.”  

As an architecture student focusing on sustainability and long-term design, Hayat envisioned the group chat as a place where people can exchange, lend, or resell items they no longer need. Three years in, “Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose” has grown into what the group calls “a circular economy platform” with guidelines on price setting, product descriptions, and payment options. 

For students, the resale culture cultivated by the group chat is also an affordable and accessible alternative to buying items first-hand. Simra Saif, a second-year interior design student at Virginia Commonwealth University School of The Arts Qatar, has often turned to the group chat to source unique items at a lower price. While working on a project for the compound housing Palestinian evacuees in Doha, Saif used the group chat to find affordable materials and furniture. Aside from buying, Saif also sells items she no longer needs to supplement her allowance. When pricing her items, she tries her best to be considerate of her buyers, who are often students living away from home. 

“I tend not to put a price on things because I know everyone’s financial situation is a little bit different,” Saif said. “I like to give them the option to suggest how much they can pay for it, so that way they can buy it.” 

Even though the group chat has hundreds of members, the interactive nature of buying and selling items— with sellers meeting buyers in a shared living space— makes business a more compassionate exchange. As a result, a sense of community is baked into the “Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose” group chat. Amina Zaidi, a second-year journalism student at Northwestern University in Qatar, noted how people often ask for advice or last-minute help on the group chat. “A lot of people borrowed dresses for one-time events,” she said with a smile.

 Both Zaidi and Saif recalled how they formed new friendships while buying clothes hangers or selling used clothing. Saif had an endearing interaction with a buyer who insisted on paying more than the suggested price because she thought Saif was underselling her items. Zaidi also recounted conversations with sellers that evolved into friendships. 

“I went and asked them for random stuff, and I ended up becoming good friends with them,” she said. “[The group chat] is a community within a community.”

This sense of community encourages conscious consumption amongst the students participating in the group chat. At the start of the initiative, Hayat noticed that many would undervalue free or second-hand items compared to things they pay for or buy first-hand. Today, with hundreds of young women from diverse cultural and class backgrounds relying on the “Reuse, Recycle, Reduce” group chat, one can observe a gradual shift away from this mindset. The group is encouraging many not only to buy items second-hand but also to be conscious about how they discard what they no longer use. 

“I think it’s good,” Zaidi said, “because instead of throwing away stuff that someone doesn’t need in their house, they can give it to someone who would appreciate it more.” 

For those submerged under heaps of trinkets or frantically clearing their apartments before a looming check-out date, the group chat description has a simple solution: “Post it.”