SURPLUS FURNITURE

SURPLUS FURNITURE and other items are available at our Recycling and Surplus Center in Allston every Thursday from 11 AM -- 2 PM. If donating furniture, please instruct your movers to contact us 24 hours before delivery so that we can receive and display everything safely. We can take material only from Harvard buildings which use FMO Recycling & Waste Services, and we can never receive any trash or hazardous waste. All loose items must be boxed in 24” x 40” bin boxes, staged on pallets. Movers must provide their own boxes, but pallets are available here.

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. Our preferred vendor 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.

Here is a map, thanks to Peter Siebert of the Planning Office, showing the location of our Recycling and Surplus Center.

                  First of two FAS FreeCycle events this summer. Photo by Cara Ferrentino

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FREECYCLE events are busting out all over! FAS, HMS, HLS, HGSE and others all hosted FreeCycle swap events. See photo from FAS/HLS event. If you want us to help you by providing a seed hamper chock full of folders, staplers, toner cartridges and paper sorting trays, please let us know. We will drop off the morning of the event, supply extra hampers (we sometimes have extra folding tables and a 10 x 10 tent for outdoor events), and pick up all the "unsold" inventory, which can include old computers and any electronics products. Read story and watch (1:12) video by FAS Green Program, filmed by Brandon Geller and starring Samantha Biegler of the Psychology Undergraduate Office, Scott Haywood & Crew Chief Douglas of Kirkland House. Thanks to the Office for Sustainability and Harvard Summer School for putting on this event.

LEAST WASTE EVER...

In June 2010, Harvard generated 567 tons of trash.  This is our thriftiest June ever, with trash down from 958 tons in 2004 when our buildings occupied 10% less square footage.  For FY 2010, we set a new record, discarding only 6,705 tons of trash while recovering 55% for recycling.  Our recycling rate matched our rate for last year at 55%.  We recovered more food scraps for composting than in FY09, with new programs starting at the Kennedy School, Jefferson Labs, the Barker Center and elsewhere.  On the other hand, we sent fewer tons of grass clippings and wood chips for off-campus composting so that we could recycle their nutrients locally through our Landscape Services' organic maintenance program.  We are also pleased that per capita waste dropped to 365.  Can we cut our waste to 350 lbs/person this year?

 

LET THE STUFF SALES BEGIN!

Harvard Habitat for Humanity has scrubbed the fridges, vacuumed the rugs, and wrapped up the storage crates and they are now ready for customers.  Sales led by Timo Kim '10, HHH Summer Captain, have already surpassed $15,000, which is $11,000 ahead of last year.  Thanks to all students, staff, faculty and neighbors who shop in support of HHH's urgent mission to build housing for the needy.  The Science Center Stuff Sales will occur on the lawn at 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, from 9 AM - 5 PM on these dates:

Thursday	8-26-10
Friday	8-27-10
Saturday	8-28-10
Sunday	8-29-10
Monday	8-30-10
Tuesday	8-31-10
Saturday	9-4-10
Sunday	9-5-10

                

 

ANOTHER GOOD SHOW

Watch Boston's fabulous SingleStream "RecycleMore" video with cameo by Mayor Tom Menino! Harvard's recycling specifications are exactly the same as Boston's so recycle exactly as they do here and we can RecycleMore too!

 

ANSWERS FROM A GARBOLOGIST

NYC Department of Sanitation's resident "Garbologist" took a few questions from NY Times readers. Her responses to our own Rob Gogan's questions about injuries to sanitation collectors remind us to be grateful to the people who handle our trash and recyclables. Read more here.

 

TURN IN YOUR UNUSED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Turn in your unused prescription drugs for destruction at US Drug Enforcement Agency's National Take-back Initiative on Saturday, 9-25-10. Casually storing or discarding leftover pharmaceutical substances creates temptation for drug abusers. Disposal by flushing or landfilling unused prescription drugs can contaminate groundwater and harm wildlife. Please take your unused drugs to one of these locations and they will accept whatever you bring, no cost and no questions asked. For more details click here.

• BELMONT POLICE DEPARTMENT, Belmont DPW Yard, 37 C ST., Belmont MA, 02478
• CITY OF EVERETT POLICE DEPARTMENT, Walgreens, 317 Ferry St., Everett MA, 02149
• NEWTON POLICE DEPARTMENT, Police Headquarters, 1321 Washington St., West Newton MA, 02465
• WELLESLEY POLICE DEPARTMENT, 485 Washington St., Wellesley MA, 02482
• LYNN POLICE DEPARTMENT, 300 Washington St., Lynn MA, 01902

 

SURPLUS AVAILABLE

• Z406 3D PRINTER from Z Corporation; fast, full-color printer ideal for engineering and CAD/CAM. Harvard Square location.


• SONY TRINITRON, 27" diagonal measurement, works like new. Harvard Yard location. Please email us if you'd like to pick this up.


• 3 RING BINDERS (about 5 packing crates full) and hanging folders, brand new. Harvard Square location. Please email us to make arrangements.

 

CAMPUS NATURE WATCH

• Downy woodpecker hunts for larvae near Pierce Hall.  Photo by Holly Hutchison.




• Young EASTERN COTTONTAIL RABBIT savors the grass under a long hedge in front of the old building of Mt. Auburn Hospital, as two women graze on lunch while sitting on nearby bench.
  
  
• PEREGRINE FALCON perches on the very tip of the spire over Memorial
  Church. 
  
  
• WHITE BREASTED NUTHATCH lands in a Black Locust tree in front of Lamont.
  
  
• BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON crosses the bow of a motorboat heading upriver on the Charles as the heron flies from the Weld Boathouse and lands safely in a tree on the opposite shore.
  
  
• MOURNING DOVE flies up to a branch in a Black Locust in front of Lamont.
  
  
• Spectacular RED-TAILED HAWK fledgling photos on Holly Hutchison’s blog
  
  
• Mockingbird flies up to the lower roof of the Carpenter Center into a bush and feeds there a while before flying up to the top roof.
  
  
• Sparrows sand-bathe behind Grays Hall where the pine had recently been chopped down, then interrupted their activity to feed on the bread offered by passerby.
  
  
• Audacious ROBIN sits on her nest precariously balanced over the door frame of a little-used side door at Byerly Hall.
  
  
• Tail-less fledgling ROBIN heads clumsily into the bushes near the Faculty Club.
  
  
• CHIPPING SPARROW hops on the lawn of the Pusey Library's roof.
  
  
• White butterflies, bees, wasps of various sizes appreciate the roses and plants in the garden of the Faculty Club.
  
  
• Lightning strikes a maple in the Yard by the Quincy St. fence opposite the Faculty Club and the huge branch falls safely on the sidewalk and street. On the tree the "socket" shows black above from the lightning burn and pale below that section.
  
  
• Two or more DRAGONFLIES circle repeatedly around the green above Pusey Library.
  
  
• Large black EASTERN TIGER SWALLOWTAIL butterfly flies around the flowers at the Faculty Club and under the tent, but keeps returning to savor the little purple flowers in the urn above the steps.
  
  
• MONARCH butterfly flits right above passersby’s head from Dudley House, then flies out the gate to sample the colorful flowers hanging from the lamp poles.
  
  

Thanks to Campus Nature Watchers Kate Brick, Holly Hutchison, Sonia Ketchian, Marla King, Erika McCaffrey!

 

Contact Us

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