UOS | Facilities Maintenance Operations | Recycling

The NEW Office for Sustainability Website!

See the beautiful NEW WEBSITE for the OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY (formerly known as the Green Campus Initiative). It is a spectacularly rich resource for campus operations that are environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable, not only for Harvard, but for every campus in the nation and beyond.
<http://green.harvard.edu/>

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EPA GIVES FMO RECYCLING & WASTE MANAGER Rob Gogan its "Environmental Merit Award" on Earth Day 2009.

EPA GIVES FMO RECYCLING & WASTE MANAGER Rob Gogan its "Environmental Merit Award" on Earth Day 2009. See photo elsewhere on this website. Click below and scroll down to read Rob's citation under "Individual Environmental Merit Awards:" link
Read about the award in the Harvard Crimson:

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New site for sustainability programs at UOS!

When you log on to www.uos.harvard.edu/sustainability you'll find comprehensive information on all of our programs and services that help improve the environment. New this month, details on the Solar Thermal System recently installed at Blackstone. Plus, learn how Engineering and Utilities is saving energy the 'cool' way.

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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.  Our preferred vendor for shredding and recycling of confidential records is DataShredder at 1-800-622-1808.

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.  Everything is free, first-come, first-served and open to everyone.

 

May 2009 - View Archive

May Harvard Recycling Update

Sparrow flying into CES lion mouth nest

NEW RECORD FOR THRIFT!

ADAMS HOUSE WINS GREEN CUP! Due largely to a whopping 25% improvement in recycling over the average of the past three years, Adams House out-greened all other Houses and narrowly beat deep-green Lowell House by a smidgen. The deciding factor may have been the aggressive expansion of in-house composting started in Adams B entry by Kelly Evans, as well as dramatic increases in composting from the Dining Hall led by Dave Seley. REPs Samantha Houston, REP Captain Rachel Mak, and former REP Coordinator Philip Kreycik collaborated with the Adams House Office to implement 12 Eco-Projects.

Harvard undergrads CELEBRATE EARTH DAY at their Block Party with unprecedented joy, enthusiasm and clear-sightedness, educating their peers with saucy T-shirts, reusable spork/knives, sunspot observation, bicycle tune ups from Quad Bikes, a visit from Al Gore's rubber twin, a fabulous music revue and more! Read about it in the Harvard Gazette:
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2009/04.30/11-earthday.html

YARDFEST COMPOSTS and recycles!

A crowd of 7,200 students dined, listened to the music of Sara Bareilles and Ratatat, swung on tire swings, and RECYCLED OR COMPOSTED 80% OF THEIR REFUSE (about 100 bags) for recycling or composting. Thanks to Jason Luke of Facilities Maintenance Operations, Dara Olmsted of the Office for Sustainability (who rounded up the crew of 20 volunteers via email while on vacation), and most of all, Dave Seley of Dining Services Adams House Kitchen! Thanks also to YardFest recycling/composting volunteers, including Jenni Alden, Esther Cho, Judy Fan, Su Gao, Brandon Geller, Kate Hoagland, Jeremy Jih, Henry Kesner, Sam Kesner, Tiffany Lau, Jing Liu, Allyson Ross, Gosia Sklodowska, Kira Sullivan-Wiley, Lina Swislocki, Stella Tsay, Audrey Wang & Sophia Wen!

Further waste reduction by HUDS: No longer do House kitchens use entire sheets of paper with people's names and requests on them to staple to bag lunches. This year, they started using little scraps.

Speaking of waste reduction, HARVARD COLLEGE CUTS PAPER used by several annual publications! Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay Harris announced in April on-line-only publication of several of the hefty tomes distributed by the tens of thousands every fall semester. On-line versions will replace paper publications of the Courses of Instruction, Harvard College Handbook for Students, The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook for Students, Q Guide, and Information for Faculty Offering Instruction in Arts and Sciences. This decision will not only reduce expenses, it will also cut truck traffic and exhaust emissions (both delivery and pickup), reduce papermaking pollution, and lighten undergraduates' backpacks!

Spring Waste Audit reveals STUNNING RECYCLING IMPROVEMENTS at HBS! Led by Krystal Noiseax of the Office for Sustainability, the Graduate Green Living Reps have once again lived up to the Leith Sharp Rule of Continuous Improvement in Sustainability! Recyclables in the Business School trash have fallen from 35% in 2005 to just 19% this spring. See graph below. Thanks to the HBS Green Team, led by Meghan Duggan and Stephen Coughlin, without whose support this progress would not have happened. Special thanks also to the Waste Audit Team including Krystal, visiting "Sustainability" student Mark McSherry, and Reps: Eric Benjamin, Jenny Liu, Stephen Robnett, Garry Thaniel, Evelyne White and Samantha Monaghan!

See an on-line video about how mixed recyclables are sorted out at Materials Recovery Facilities in Oregon, and how five commodities are recycled into new products! Note that here at the MRF we use in Massachusetts, Casella's Charlestown facility, we can include glass in the mix. Except for that, the Oregon process is identical to Casella's:
http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=28609

THE TRAVELS OF TRASH:

Harvard's trash until this July will continue to go 800 miles to a landfill owned by Allied Waste Services in Bishopville, South Carolina. After July, it will travel only 80 miles to a Rochester, New Hampshire landfill, cutting CO2 and other emissions significantly. This landfill, like the SC one, recovers much of the methane from the decomposing organics in the trash. The methane travels by pipeline to the University of New Hampshire to fuel their co-generation facility. Of course, the best way to reduce CO2 is to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost! The economic bad news about wasting is that, despite the shorter dump run distance, the higher northeastern price of disposal will keep our disposal costs at $87 per ton.

The Cost to Recycle

RECYCLING GOT CHEAPER last month! Instead of paying $55 per ton, Harvard since April 1st is paying $40 per ton of recyclables. This reflects an improving market for industrial commodities this spring!

 

HARVARD RECYCLING CUTS COSTS BY 7.8% for next fiscal year!

Thanks to increased recycling, reduced trash, limited cuts in weekend service, and renegotiation of our trash contract with Allied Waste Services, FMO Recycling and Waste Services was able to reduce costs to the University by an average of 7.8% for FY10. This is in spite of expansion in laboratory space and addition of new properties in Allston. If you would like to discuss your department or school's refuse budget in greater detail, please call or email us.

EPA GIVES FMO RECYCLING & WASTE MANAGER Rob Gogan its "Environmental Merit Award" on Earth Day 2009. See photo elsewhere on this website. Click here and scroll down to read Rob's citation under "Individual Environmental Merit Awards:"

Read about the award in the Harvard Crimson:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=527842

See the beautiful NEW WEBSITE for the OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY (formerly known as the Green Campus Initiative). It is a spectacularly rich resource for campus operations that are environmentally, economically, and socially sustailable, not only for Harvard, but for every campus in the nation and beyond.
<http://green.harvard.edu/>

FAS Eco Competition In third place was last year's winner, William James Hall. Building manager Herbert Fuller - retiring this year - drew mention, along with FAS "eco-citizen Celeste Beck. Their bragging points included composting on all 15 floors and updated, water-efficient bathrooms.
Second place went to 51 Brattle St., which houses Harvard's Division of Continuing Education. Drawing praise were building manager Patrick Shea and key Green Team supporters Linda Cross, Martin Leape, and Charles Allen.
In first place in the FAS contest was University Hall, the Charles Bulfinch-designed landmark of white granite, a fixture in Harvard Yard since it was finished in 1815.

FAS Green Labs launches newsletter!

If you are interested in how to enhance the sustainability of your FAS laboratory, please contact Philip Kreycik and his team here: <labreps@lists.hcs.harvard.edu>. The newsletter will send you one screenful (only!) of practical information like this tip we can all learn from:
Tip of the month: STREAMLINE YOUR ON/OFF SWITCH-FLIPPING RITUAL! Find yourself having to run laps across your bench twice a day just to turn all your countertop equipment on and off? Did you know that common devices like balances and stirrers may still draw standby power when plugged in, even if switched off? Plugging in a power strip can simplify this chore to one step, consolidate your plugs/cables, and conserve energy. Thanks to the Pringle Lab for suggesting this simple, win-win solution!

See the April Harvard Resource for a great photo of our Surplus Distribution Day in the "My Harvard" section. Read other excellent articles about Harvard Green Heroes Heather Hendriksen, Director of the Green Campus Initiative; Meghan Duggan, HBS Sustainability Assistant Director, who is justifiably proud of HBS's 54% recycling rate; and green commuting, featuring CommuterChoice Manager Kris Locke! You need to be a member of the Harvard community to sign in to read this.
http://www.harvie.harvard.edu/docroot/standalone/Resource/MyHarvard/

 

View the "SECRET LIFE OF PAPER!" How is paper production related to forest destruction and global warming? Why is recycling and buying recycled paper important? Learn the answers to these questions in the fascinating 5-minute video from Inform, Inc., producers of the equally-fabulous "Secret Life of Cell Phones," at the link below:
http://www.secret-life.org/

 

Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2008 recovered 265 million pounds for recycling and collected some 3.5 million hardware units, weighing 75 million pounds, for reuse globally, according to its latest annual Global Citizenship Report. To date, Hewlett-Packard has recycled more than 1.7 billion pounds. The full 2008 Global Citizenship Report is available at www.hp.com/go/report.

 

How does your municipality's recycling rate stack up against other cities and towns in Massachusetts? Read the Mass DEP's 2007 report to find out:
http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/priorities/07rates.xls

 

MassRecycle, the state's recycling advocacy organization, is hosting several tours this spring: the Covanta Municipal Waste Incinerator in West Wareham; Electronic Recyclers International in Gardner; Waste Management Materials Recovery Facility in Avon; Extras for Creative Learning, distributors of industrial surplus of interest to teachers, parents and students in Dorchester. Learn more about the tours here:
http://www.massrecycle.org/tours.html

 

SWAP PAPERBACKS, CD's, DVD's & more for the price of postage through the on-line, Paperback Bookswap book club! Learn more here:
http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/how_to_swap_books.php

CAMPUS NATURE WATCH

• Opossum scoots around Hicks House next to Kirkland House late in the evening.
• BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERONS fish for their breakfast on the Soldiers Field Road side of the Charles between River Street and Western Avenue.
• SNOWY EGRET, head pulled back against its shoulders, flies lithely up the Charles.
• Pair of DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANTS feed on spring ALEWIFE run in Charles River (near Weld Boat House).
• WILD TURKEY lands on a bus on Brattle Street and flies off the bus before settling on a window at Cronkhite Graduate Center.... [The same?] turkey cools off under a RHODODENDRON bush at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Observatory)... [The same?] turkey perches atop a car parked at the Alewife branch of the HSCfA! See photos.
• Three RED-TAILED HAWKS circle over the Science Center calling in a low voice... red-tailed hawk attacks GRAY SQUIRREL on Child Hall roof, diving several times, but the nimble squirrel evades the clutching talons [read about less lucky squirrel below at Busch Hall]... red-tailed soars low over Peabody Terrace towards Riverside Boat Club.
• MALE CARDINAL sings in front of Emerson before joining his mate in the crab apples on Pusey's roof.
• GOLDFINCHES sing and feed in WHITE PINE tree at the corner of Grays, Weld, and Boylston.
• YELLOW WARBLER joins brave goldfinches feeding on the Harvard Museums of Natural History lawn across the street from the nesting red-tailed hawk couple in the pine in front of Pierce Hall.
• MOURNING DOVE ensconced on a nest on a ledge in a Harvard Square academic building shows she is a mom, as a little tail protrudes out from under her protection.
• The same white pine north of Grays hosts a GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER, flashing big yellow patches on its wings to an excited Nature Watcher who adds this beauty to her life list.
• In AMERICAN ELM in front of Widener, a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET calls, but others are not visible.
• Over 6 NASHVILLE WARBLERS show their yellow bellies very high up, also in the trees at Boylston and Grays.
• In the same trees, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH forages briskly.
• MOCKINGBIRD perches on the fence in front of Lowell House and a ROBIN sings in the branches of the red-budded RED MAPLE trees on the sidewalk nearby.
• SPRING HAS SPRUNG at Busch Hall courtyard! The HOUSE SPARROWS are once again busy building a nest in the mouth of the Braunschweig lion statue in the Busch Hall courtyard (see photo)... pair of CARDINALS courts among blooming daffodils... RED TAILED HAWK catches and eats a squirrel on top of the Cabot Way wall in front of many observers. Center for European Studies welcomes visitors to the garden via the courtyard gate near the intersection of Kirkland and Quincy Streets beginning May 1st!
• DAFFODILS & SCILLAS brighten the Wigglesworth J side of Boyston Hall.
• MAGNOLIAS on the corner of Matthews and Grays are opening their beautiful blossoms... Tall magnolia between Thayer and Memorial Chapel is in its dazzling white glory... White magnolia blooms in front of Boylston, and a smaller white magnolia bush at the entrance to Wadsworth House gleams.
• Deep blue SCILLAS blanket the ground underneath the yellow FORSYTHIA bushes in front of Lowell House.
• Behind CGIS-South the pink CHERRY TREES bloom.
• VISIT THE LAND OF THE GIANTS-- Visit Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America, with a naturalist from Lesley University this summer. Help indigenous Yupukari build literacy and keep their land safe for the world's largest species of ant, otter, eagle, armadillo, anteater, alligator, bat, spider and snake. Learn how to hunt and fish with bow and arrow, make dugout canoes, weave hammocks from wild cotton, produce a dozen products just from cassava. Contact David Morimoto, Lesley University, Cambridge MA: <morimoto@lesley.edu>. To learn more about the program, visit here:
  http://rupununilearners.org

Thanks to Campus Nature Watchers Zach Arnold, Nora Dahl, E. J. Dotts, Cara Ferrentino, Peggy Herlihy, Cathy Lehar, Cathy Oskin, Corinna Rohse, Sandy Selesky, Sonia Ketchian!