UOS | Facilities Maintenance Operations | Recycling

President's house springs forward

George White, Manager of the President's House, informs us of two green developments there. First, they are putting food and yard waste into backyard composters to make topsoil for the vegetable garden. Second, rainwater falling on the garage is captured for irrigation purposes in a rain barrel under the gutter downspout. George may add another depending on watering needs. If you want information about how you can divert food scraps, leaves and other organic materials for local composting on your grounds, please let us know.

There will be NO SURPLUS DISTRIBUTION from Harvard this Thursday, 6-4-09, due to Harvard's Commencement. Come see us Thursday, 6-11-09, 6-18-09 and every Thursday through the summer. See Craig's List Free Stuff this Tuesday, 6-9-09 for an updated inventory of what is available.

Thanks for reducing, re-using and recycling!

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Harvard CUTS TRASH AGAIN!

Through April 30, we had only generated 4,350 tons of trash fiscal year-to-date. In 2004, we had generated this much by the month of February. Thanks for all that waste reduction, reuse and recycling! We still have a long way to go.

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BUILDING GREEN VALUE

A Conference on Making Offices More Sustainable and Cost Effective. Join us Tuesday, June 23, 2009 ~ 8am-2:30 pm ~ UMass Boston Campus Center. Sponsored by MassRecycle; read more here.

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'Green' repair shop

"If it can't be reduced, re-used, REPAIRED..." Read the inspiring story of Seth Barrett, a Brookline neighborhood repair man recently featured on CNN, who fixes everything from toasters to chairs which residents bring in. We could use Seth here at Harvard! Thanks to Cathy McCormick for passing this along to us! Watch the video & read the story here.

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RECYCLE--DON'T KILL POLAR BEARS!

The University of Oregon's Campus Recycling crew led by the amazing Karyn Kaplan has produced a wonderful cartoon showing how recycling, energy efficiency and other measures will help us save a polar bear cub. To see the 3-minute cartoon, click here.

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THANK YOU, KRYSTAL

Noiseax of the Office for Sustainability, who is leaving Harvard to work in Washington DC. Krystal has been enormously helpful promoting waste reduction and recycling in Harvard Real Estate buildings, the Law School, the Business School, Dining Services, the new Green Office Certification program (see http://green.harvard.edu/green-office/certification ). Last but not least, Krystal is the talented graphics designer who made the signature "Harvard SingleStream Recycling" and trash graphics here.

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UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE POWERS CAMPUS WITH LANDFILL GAS!

Now that the 12.7 mile pipeline is complete from the Rochester NH landfill owned by Waste Management, the Durham, NH based campus has replaced its natural gas with methane generated by anaerobic decomposition of organic waste. This will meet 80% of the energy needs of the 14,000 student campus. According to Sustainability Director Tom Kelly, "Sustainability really requires us to collaborate in new ways at a whole different level than we've been used to... this is a good example of that kind of project."

"The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives." - Chinese proverb

June 2009 - View Archive

June Harvard Recycling Update

Photo by Bob Stymeist - Red-tailed Hawk nest

HHBS Green Team member Katie Giddings keeps the recycling clean at Harvard's Sustainability Celebration last fall, where 15,000 people generated 1 bag of trash. Read below to see how Commencement event planners hope to replicate Zero Waste success at several large events this month! Photo by Camille McMorrow

The greenest commencement ever?

This year, Harvard will achieve a long list of "firsts" in making its graduation more sustainable. In addition to recycling at all outdoor catered events - now made routine by the diligence of Crimson Catering, Dining Services and other caterers - this year, we will offer composting at 13 events, including the gigantic Senior Family Dinner at McCurdy Track for 5,000 seniors and their guests. Michelle Blanc's BAR CREW with the help of Vaughn Simkins and Ed Garland will offer recycling at every bar set-up (and catering for some events) for the 25th Reunion activities. Courtney Shurtleff, Director of Harvard College Alumni Association, is working closely with the 40th Reunion to recycle and compost at all major dinners. The LAW SCHOOL will recycle and compost all their box lunch components, with the help of James Iannone of Restaurant Associates, Cara Ferrentino of the Office for Sustainability, and Becky Andreasson of Facilities. Gina Venturini and Dara Olmsted of the Office for Sustainability will lead the KENNEDY SCHOOL's efforts, recycling for 2,000 guests and their families. The GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION will recycle and compost at three of their activities, thanks to Jason Carlson and Dara. All other Harvard schools will be doing more than ever to recycle, including Stephen Coughlin at the Business School; Bob Christiano at the Medical School; Kevin Cahill, Trevor O'Brien and Adrian Moreira at the Graduate School of Design; Jyoti Rana (FMO) at the Divinity School; Jennifer Piazza at Radcliffe...

Behind the scenes, this is all made possible by an indefatigable crew led by Jason Luke, Jeffrey Smith, Wayne Carbone, Raul Andino, Augusto Arevalo, Tony Cobuccio, Frankie Lemos, Joe Rebeiro, Paul Smith, (FMO); Madeline Meehan, Derrick Trent, and Katie O'Donnell (Crimson Catering); Anthony Pacillo (FAS Physical Resources); David Davidson, Dave Seley, Martin Breslin, and a cast of thousands (Harvard Dining Services); Courtney, Michelle, Gretchen Picken and Alex Monti (Harvard Alumni Association); and Cara, Dara, Gosia Sklodowska and others (Office for Sustainability); Harvard FMO Recycling and its contractors, including Allied Waste and Save That Stuff! Thanks especially to OFS for pushing every faculty with whom they are working to make this special time of the year as green as possible! We don't want to write this in stone, but there are several events which, as planned, will generate Zero Waste (or darn close to it!). We will let you know how close we came in the July Update!

Misc News:

» ONE EMBARRASSING GLITCH caused our transparent plastic ClearStream recycling bags to be labeled "Trash Only." The black plastic trash bags also say Trash Only. Where does the recycling go? Into the clear bags. We can assure you that they will be recycled! Sorry for the confusion!

» Check out the hilarious winners from the Resource Efficiency Program's GREENTUBE VIDEO COMPETITION! Inaugurated by rising REP Co-Captain Kurt Tsuo, the contest solicited short (<4 min) videos promoting REP and one of its eco-campaigns. We suggest you eat your lunch before watching "Harvard Heroes!"

» Harvard students DONATE 123 TRUCKLOADS of furniture, clothing, books and other reusables to Harvard Habitat for Humanity and other charities (one more than last year!), and we're only halfway done! Despite the harder economic times, Harvard students prove that they still can be generous. Thanks to them and especially to Harvard Habitat for Humanity's student volunteers, including Captain Lydia Karch and her stalwart crew of Chase, Sam, Ali, Alyssa, Galush and Jenny for already donating over 1,000 hours (collectively) to this effort. Food will go to the Greater Boston Food Bank; cosmetics and personal care items will go to the Cambridge Family Shelter of the YWCA; eyeglasses will go to Unite for Sight; crutches, pillows and mattresses will go to Food for the Poor's disaster relief efforts via the Institution Recycling Network; and saleable items will go to the Stuff Sales coming the last two weekends in August and the first in September! Last year the Stuff Sales made over $60,000. Please plan to visit the Stuff Sale if you have a dorm or apartment to furnish this fall.

» This year, HHH is also working with the students of the LABBB Collaborative. These autistic and special needs teens have been bagging up clothes, taping hangars together, cleaning out mini-fridges, vacuuming rugs and helping do whatever else is necessary for Stuff Sale preparation. They will have a crew there most weekdays this summer. We are excited to have the LABBB kids' help!

» The City by the Bay leads the way for other North American cities with its outstanding recycling rate: SF RECYCLING ACHIEVES 72% diversion this past year. Aggressive curbside collection of recyclables, compostables and trash has made this possible. We at Harvard hope to emulate SF's success by 2015 with the "Fantastic 3" system with each building receiving three barrels or dumpsters: blue (for recyclables going to factories), green (for compostables going to farms), and carbon black (for trash going to landfills). By 2020, we hope to get rid of the carbon blacks and generate zero waste. Thanks to Chris Traganos for the link

HARVARD CAMPUS NATURE WATCH

• Looking scared and cold, an OPOSSUM wonders among the purple lilacs in front of 69 Dunster on a raw, rainy Tuesday morning. Pogo finds shelter under the steps of a nearby building and has been spotted since then, looking a lot warmer.
  
  
• RED-TAILED HAWK couple nesting in WHITE PINE tree to east of Pierce Hall raises a clutch of three well-watched chicks. From the East, Bob Stymeist of the Ornithology Department on the 6th floor of the Harvard Museums of Natural History has taken these gorgeous photos: [1], [2], [3]
  
  
• Matt Girard, a student at the Graduate School of Design, took this photo of one of the parents perching on the roof of a nearby building. Matt stayed to watch the parents bring three trophies to the nest, including a rat and mouse.
  
  
• 10 BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERONS take their herring breakfast spread along the Charles between River Street and Western Avenue near the Doubletree Hotel.
  
  
• BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON looks out for alewives in the Charles near Weeks Footbridge in the shade of a blooming crabapple. Thanks to Corinna Rohse for the photo!
  
  
• Hawk falls into Radcliffe Sunken Garden fountain and nearly drowns, as drenched feathers prevent its flying out... electricians wiring Radcliffe tent for Commencement reach out to the bird with ClearStream recycling lids [delivered for the 40th Reunion Dinner] to help pull it out of the water. The rescuers succeed and deliver the soggy hawk to the banks of the fountain. Land-bound, the hawk sits in the sun trying to dry out. Other birds start harassing the raptor, and it manages to flap up into a tree. The hawk sits to dry further in the Radcliffe Yard area, at one point sitting on the Fay House roof, before winging away.
  
  
• MOURNING DOVE nesting on a window ledge near Gund Hall hatches her second brood of one after the prolonged absence of the first lone chick.
  
  
• In front of Austin Hall and the lawn of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS forage up and down tree trunks.
  
  
• HERRING GULL stands on left bank of Charles near Peabody Terrace, struggling to get a large ALEWIFE down its throat. Pedestrian startles the gull into strained flight to the middle of the river, where the gull tries to swallow tail first, then (successfully) head first. The gull's throat expands to the thickness of its head, but the fish stays down, and the bird awkwardly flies away.
  
  
• YELLOW WARBLER and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER sing in the trees in front of the MCZ while a Chimney Swift chatters overhead. BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER joins the warbler wave chorus in Harvard Yard. AMERICAN REDSTART sings in Harvard Yard in addition to the still-present Black-throated Green Warbler.
  
  
• COMMON YELLOWTHROAT perches in front of the HMNH.
  
  
• Male CARDINAL flashes his crimson plumage among all the Commencement banners among the trees in Tercentenary Theatre.
  
  
• CHIMNEY SWIFTS soar over Widener and the trees in front.
  
  
• Two white SWANS fly high over Vanderbilt Hall towards the Charles.
  
  
• Brilliant yellow male AMERICAN GOLDFINCH flies to the ground in front of Widener and then up a tree... another goldfinch flies from one tree to another close to Straus.
  
  
• Pair of HOUSE FINCHES look for food in front of Emerson.
  
  
• Young girl slips a water-logged stick through a hole in a large (8") FRESH WATER CLAM shell, left by its former occupant at the foot of the Weeks Memorial Footbridge near McKinlock Hall.
  
  
• CABBAGE BUTTERFLY flies to a tree in front of Widener.
  
  
• ROSEBUD TREES bloom by the gate facing the Fogg and in front of Straus.
  
  
• TULIPS stand in front of the Faculty Club; more tulips splash the Rose Garden with riotous color.
  
  
• Purple IRISES join the tulips blooming in the Faculty Club's garden.
  
  
• The three red-clustered HORSE CHESTNUT "Buckeye" trees at the back entrance to Widener and on the Mass. Ave. side of Wigglesworth are in bloom, as are the golden day lilies at the entrance to 17 Sumner Road.
  
  
• SCHOLAR or PAGODA TREES bloom across Yard just in time for Commencement. Alas, this is the last year their blossoms will sweeten graduates' march, as future graduations will occur two weeks earlier starting next May.
  
  
• YELLOW WOOD TREES bloom fragrantly in Winthrop House courtyard between Standish and Gore and at Randolph Hall of Adams House.
  
  
• Following a big rain, mushrooms spring up, then wilt, near the entrance to 17 Sumner Road.
  
  

Thanks to Campus Nature Watchers Nora Dahl, Marge Fisher, Rob Furrow, Brandon Geller, Matt Girard, Sonia Ketchian, Philip Kreycik, Stuart McNeil, Dara Olmsted, Jennifer Piazza, Corinna Rohse, Gosia Sklodowska and Al Takeda!