"The Secret Life of Paper!" Learn about how choosing recycled paper helps prevent climate change and conserves landfill space.
The biggest yard sale in metro Boston takes over the Harvard Science Center lawn when Harvard Habitat for Humanity sets up their annual Stuff Sales. Support HHH's mission to build housing for the needy by shopping for greatly discounted furniture and housewares. Everything from desks and bookshelves to mirrors and storage crates (donations filled 230 truckloads) is available! Fresh merchandise is delivered each hour so check back often. The first sales have already raised over $20,000! Look for the big white tent at the Science Center, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge, from 9 AM to 3 PM on these days:
At Harvard Surplus Distribution Center as of 9-2-08:
Both "Here and Now" and "Marketplace" ran a story about Harvard Surplus Distribution and the conflict between reusers and scrap metal recyclers. Read the transcript or tune in here.
Final numbers put us at a recycling rate of 52% and a per capita trash rate of 183 kilograms (403 pounds) per year. When we started tracking this statistic in 2004, Harvardians each generated 264 kg (582 lbs) trash per year. Way to go Harvard! And a long way to go yet.
Talk to your building manager to see if it's OK to mix bottles and cans with your papers and cardboard. We have nifty stickers, labels and posters for you about SingleStream specs. Ask us if you'd like some. Please continue to throw away all paper towels, paper cups, napkins, plastic foams, film bags and other residuals. Better yet, try reusables instead!
Click here to read about recycling and the other sustainability measures adopted by many Catholic colleges and universities.
on its front page "First Come, First Served" story Friday 8-29-08
Photo courtesy of Rob Gogan
We are off to a great start for FY2009! Harvard's TRASH IN JULY WAS THE LOWEST monthly amount in at least 19 years. Our RECYCLING ROSE 27% from last year to yield a new July record recycling rate of 53%. We still have a long way to go before we reach our 2010 goal of 60%. We are particularly interested in getting more of the basics: papers, boxes, bottles and cans. Thanks for your help, waste-busters and recyclers of Harvard!
PERFECT YOUR BOXING SKILLS! Move-in and the start of the Fall semester generate more cardboard than any other time of year. Please help us recycle more boxes! Empty them out, flatten if feasible and toss them into the recycling barrel. If boxes are too big, please set neatly beside the barrel and our drivers will pick it up. Please be careful about foam packing "peanuts" which can cause a non-degradable blemish on our gorgeous grounds when we pick up the cardboard. (The UPS Store at 955 Mass. Ave., Cambridge will accept all clean peanuts for reuse! 617-868-5055 ) If you'd like an electronic image of the "Harvard Boxing" poster showing a cardboard box getting flattened for recycling between two boxing gloves, please let us know.
ALLIANCE OF BLACK CHURCHES urges members to conserve energy and fight climate change. Read more here.
Promote sustainability on Harvard's campus with a CAMPUS ECOLOGY FELLOWSHIP from the National Wildlife Federation! Up to $5,000 is available to each fellow. Harvard has had two Campus Ecology Fellows and we'd love to see a third! For more information, click here.
Thanks to Campus Nature Watchers Sonia Ketchian, Jean Martin, Joan Ruttenberg, Sandy Selesky!
Furniture Information: Surplus Furniture and other items are available at our Recycling and Surplus Center in Allston every Thursday 11-2! If donating furniture, please instruct your movers to contact us 24 hours before delivery rob_gogan at harvard dot edu so that we can receive and display everything safely. We can take material only from Harvard buildings which use our waste and recycling services, and we can never receive any trash or hazardous waste.
When donating file cabinets and desks, please unlock, open up and clean out all drawers. We cannot receive any furniture with unknown contents.
Likewise, please make sure all computers, smart phones and other electronic devices are purged of any confidential information. Harvard recycling does not shred or otherwise destroy any confidential materials we pick up or that are delivered to the recycling and surplus center. Thus it is the responsibility of the donor or recycler to make proper arrangements to protect confidential information. Please call us if you need extra recycling barrels or more pickups when cleaning out offices and furniture.
Also, please ask us for contact information for confidential destruction vendors serving the campus.
Please keep in mind that parking space limitations force us to be STRICT ABOUT PARKING RULES. Please respect our neighbors' need to maintain safe traffic flow around the Recycling and Surplus Center . When here for Thursday's Surplus Distribution, follow the parking monitor's direction and park only in designated areas. You may also park in the free spaces in the streets adjacent to the property. If you are interested in seeing any of the items now available, come to our Recycling and Surplus Center at 175 North Harvard Street in Allston any Thursday from 11 to 2 PM. A street map showing our location is here: Everything is free, first-come, first-served and open to everyone.
This summer we are receiving a steady stream of office furniture and supplies, as well as some residential furniture.
Recycling at Harvard is easier than ever! We can now put PAPER TOGETHER WITH CONTAINERS in the same SingleStream barrels, bins and bags. All office papers, news, books, mail and magazines can mix with flat cardboard boxes as well as bottles, cans, cups and containers made of glass, metal or plastic. New sorting technology will sort it all out with only a 3% discard rate. We still want you to put in no food or beverage residue, no plastic foams or bags, no unmarked plastics, no napkins, no tissues, no paper cups, and no other residuals in with recycling. You should be using your trash bin less than your recycling bin now! We hope this will raise our recycling rate from 47% last year to well over 50% next year. "TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!"
As always, thanks for reducing, reusing and recycling!
For information concerning Recycling and Solid Waste Removal, contact Rob Gogan, Supervisor of Recycling and Solid Waste Removal at 617-495-3042, or email rob_gogan at harvard dot edu
