SURPLUS WANTED

Science Center office wants mini-fridge for chilling food and drinks. Please contact us if you have one to donate and help your colleagues save money and stick to their diets by bringing lunches, drinks and snacks from home!

A Harvard researcher writes, "I am looking for 1 or 2 DNA Engine (MJ Research, PTC-200). Age does not matter; working condition is best, yet we have needs for part, too, so not working is OK, too. In addition, if you have any thermo cyclers with 2 X 48 block, in working condition, I am interested." Please contact us if you can help.

Harvard Department seeks GBC CombBind C20 binding machine, dimensions 21-21/32" wide x 18 ¾" deep x 9 ¼" high. Please contact us if you have a spare or little-used machine to give.

SURPLUS DISTRIBUTION

SURPLUS FURNITURE and other items are available at our Recycling and Surplus Center in Allston every Thursday except Thanksgiving Day 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:

Harvard World Record Box Fort, 2012 (Click image to view gallery)
Laura D’Asaro ‘13 (center) with helpers. Among others are Miriam Psychas, Serena Zhang, Madeline Magnuson, Hank Smith, Laura D'Asaro, and Andrew Murray.

Harvard Students Build World's Largest Cardboard Box Fort

Laura D'Asaro '13 has led Harvard to capture the world record for the largest cardboard box fort. See Laura's fabulous video which includes time-lapse animation on RecordSetter.com. Also see photos posted elsewhere in the Recycling Update. Harvard Recycling supported Laura and encouraged her to re-claim the record from University of Nevada at Las Vegas because it gives students a fun way to promote recycling and reusing cardboard boxes. After the build, students from the Environmental Action Committee carefully flattened and re-packed the largest boxes for their spring Move-out Box Sale. We will store the palletized boxes until then. Funds raised by the Box Sale will support the EAC’s environmental initiatives throughout the 2013-14 Academic Year. Here is Laura’s video:
http://recordsetter.com/world-record/cardboard-fort/17909#contentsection
And another video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tOjZr2h177o
Here is the "Harvard Gazette" article about Laura’s stunning achievement:
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/09/in-mac-quad-a-cardboard-castle/

Stuff Sale Conserves 220 Truckloads of Student Reusables

The Harvard Habitat for Humanity "Stuff Sale" has again recovered well over 100 tons of reusable books, clothing and dorm supplies that would otherwise have been wasted at last Spring’s Move-Out. Despite bad weather and a new location, Captain Alex Stein and his crew sorted, washed, vacuumed, tested, staged and marketed nearly all the recovered goods over 14 Stuff Sale days. Funds raised exceeded $70,000. The final tally won’t be known until Better World Books sends sales commissions from seven tons of books sent to their warehouse in Indiana. The Stuff Sales help Harvard students buy books and other needed items at a deep discount, conserve natural resources and raise money to support HHH’s mission to build housing for needy people. Thanks to all HHH volunteers, shoppers, and all the many Harvard departments who helped out in many ways large and small: Houses and dorms of Harvard College, the Business School, Radcliffe and the Law School for coordinating pickup of donations; Dean of Students office for providing housing for HHH volunteers; Maria Dominguez, Phyllis Fallon and many others from Phillips Brooks House Association; Drivers Alex Gonsalves, Nelson Medeiros, Dave Costa and Ed Bettencourt of Harvard Recycling Services; and last but not least, Carolee Hill, Joe Jones, Gail Olivier, Cheryl Burley and Ryan Murphy of the Allston Development Group of Harvard Real Estate Services for their generous loan of the warehouse at 224 Western Avenue for the past seven years.

 

Casella Recycling Field Trip Friday

Come visit the plant that recycles all of Harvard’s papers, bottles, cans and boxes! Sign up with us to get a seat on the bus leaving Friday, November 9 at 12:30 PM from Boylston Gate. You must RSVP with us as Casella has space for only 30 at a time. We will be back by 3 PM. This is the fourth largest Materials Recovery Facility in the nation. Casella’s crew arrays the finished bales of cardboard, newspaper, PET plastic bottles, steel cans, aluminum cans and other materials at their loading dock, where forklifts tuck dense bales into shipping containers and trailers for delivery to mills in North America and overseas. Hope to see you there!

 

Semi-New Computers Giant Moving Sale

Semi-New Computers, the student-initiated program that refurbishes surplus Harvard computers and sells them, is having a liquidation sale. Marlene and Charlie are offering complete dual core desktop systems for $95.00 and $135.00. Over 150 systems are in stock. This sale is being conducted entirely on the Web. Click the link below for details:
www.semi-newcomputers.com/special_sale.html

 

How's Your Address Hygiene?

Several departments of Harvard have been working with the Intra-Mail Network’s "Waste Free Mail" program. This program enables departments and individuals to correct or delete obsolete addresses from a mailer’s data base. Please help Harvard Mail Services to deliver only the mail you want, prevent marketers from incurring wastes and expenses from sending mail nobody will read, and reduce Harvard’s recycling and waste costs. You can visit www.wastefreemail.com directly and make a referral. You can also send through inter-office mail one copy or the cover sheet of any mailed catalog, magazine or newspaper to Harvard Mail Services, 219 Western Avenue or Harvard Recycling at 175 N. Harvard Street and we will convey to IMN that they need to set up a Facing Slip and Reference Number for that mailer. That will enable anyone with current information about an address to update or delete it from that mailer’s database. You can also scan the back cover of any mailed publication and send it to either betsy_shortell@harvard.edu or rob_gogan@harvard.edu. Waste reduction is the first part of wise materials management!

 

President Faust Announces Sustainability Report

"Today, the Office for Sustainability is releasing Harvard’s first University-wide Sustainability Impact Report. I encourage you to read the report online and consider watching the accompanying video. We have seen that creating a more sustainable campus ultimately supports our research and teaching mission by lowering operational costs and increasing efficiency."

 

Farmer's Market Composts Food Scraps

Worm bin helps turn Farmer's Market spoils into soils!
http://green.harvard.edu/worm-composting-visits-harvard-farmers-market

 

Holyoke Center Freecycle December 7

Mark your calendars and save your donations for the Holiday FreeCycle at Holyoke Center arcade, Friday 12-7-12 from 11 AM – 2 PM! Thanks to Robin Parker of the Harvard Information Office for hosting. Any and all goods, from the office and from home, are welcome. This is a great time to clear out all those unwanted goods and gifts that have been cluttering up your closets, cars, garages and basements! Think toys, books, tools, clothing, kitchen wares, unused appliances from home as well as papers, cards, stationery supplies, staplers, toner cartridges, organizers, paper sorting trays etc from your office. Donations may only be delivered the day of the event after 9 AM and before 1 PM.

 

Lab Freecycle Recovers Over 100 Instruments

At the fabulous Laboratory Oriented FreeCycle in October, the Harvard Divinity Avenue community recovered 121 instruments and pieces of equipment for reuse by other departments. In addition, Donna Peruzzi, an 8th Grade Science Teacher at the Cambridge Street Upper School was able to recover some of the obsolete teaching apparatuses from the Harvard Physics Department. By the way, Joe Peidle and crew still have hand-built pendulum devices, inertia-demonstrating toy car tracks and other teaching tools they need to clear out of the Harvard Physics storage areas in the Science Center. If you know someone who can use these devices, please let us know.

Recycling The Periodic Table

Recent technological developments have taken advantage of unique characteristics of rare earth elements, especially in electronic devices. Because of their small size and logistical difficulties with collection and processing, many of these elements are being discarded as trash. Read this article in "Science" to learn more about the challenges and opportunities in modern metal recycling:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6095/690.full

Hampshire College Becomes First Institution to Divest of Fossil Fuels

Based on its 2011 policy on Policy on Environmental, Social and Governance Investing, Hampshire College President Jonathan Lash revealed that since 2011, the College Endowment contains no investments in companies involved with extraction or processing of fossil fuels. Hampshire was also the first institution in the U.S. to divest itself of stocks doing business with the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1977.

CAMPUS NATURE WATCH

• Eastern cottontail rabbit wisely rests under the shelter of a hedge near Lamont Library. Hawks have feasted on rabbits this summer and fall, but not this happy hopper.
  
  
  
  
  
• Large EASTERN COTTONTAIL RABBIT feeds in front of Houghton as dusk descends; hawks this summer have taken a toll on younger, less watchful rabbits… eastern cottontail rabbit runs quickly across the front of the Faculty Club from the Rose Garden, stopping just before the entrance, checking for safe passage… another eastern cottontail rabbit hangs out on the lawn behind 77 Dunster Street.
  
  
• WILD TURKEY walks down the sidewalk on Mount Auburn Street, outside Starbucks… (the same?) turkey struts in front of the Staples on JFK Street… (the same?) turkey looks through the glass door of the Dining Services Office on Winthrop Street…wild turkey this morning walks down the sidewalk along Mass Ave across from the Hong Kong; at first she stays out in the open, but then ducks into the landscaping along the Lamont wall…(the same?) wild turkey feeds in the grass on the side of Lehman Hall in Harvard Yard where the CEDAR OF LEBANON grows tall.
  
  
  
  
• Male HOUSE FINCH investigates branches behind Loeb House, while an AMERICAN LADY butterfly lingers over the purple flowers on the side of Loeb House.
  
  
• Barred owl snoozes in the branches of a tree on the southwest side of Littauer Hall at the Harvard Kennedy School.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• High in the sky over the Yard, at least six dark mid-sized birds (starlings?) chase away a COOPER'S HAWK.
  
  
• MOCKINGBIRD lands on the second-floor fire escape of 1749 Cambridge Street at the corner of Prescott Street, where a luxurious white ROSE OF SHARON keeps its blossoms.
  
  
• DOWNY WOODPECKER calls out and flies from the grassy roof of Pusey to first the Black Locust, then the Oak in front of Widener Library.
  
  
• PEREGRINE FALCON sits resting on the golden weather vane of Memorial Church for over an hour in the autumn sunshine.
  
  
• MOURNING DOVE strolls on the lawn in front of Loeb House.
  
  
• RED-TAILED HAWK patrols Harvard Business School campus, preying heavily on young squirrel population. Savvy AMERICAN ROBINS hide silently when the hawk is around… (another?) red-tailed perches atop Memorial Church weather vane on a clear, calm morning and again in the afternoon... another red-tailed scans the grounds near Hemenway Gym.
  
  
• BLUE JAY gorges on WHITE OAK acorns flourishing in the young trees at 46 Blackstone.
  
  
• SHARP-SHINED HAWK and wild turkey haunts around North Hall and Lesley's Oxford and Mellen Street campus.
  
  
• Flock of around 20 PINE SISKINS gathers at North Avenue Congregational Church next to Lesley University Hall near 1705 Mass Ave.
  
  
• On the roof of Pusey, robins and MOURNING DOVES forage.
  
  
• HOUSE FINCHES, ROBINS, STARLINGS AND HOUSE SPARROWS feast on the miniature red and yellow crab apples on the roof of Pusey. Among them is a HERMIT THRUSH that flies into the trees, then moves lower before heading to the side of Houghton Library. Then in front of Loeb House at least two more hermit thrushes forage in the bushes immediately at the facade and when pedestrian walks by, one flies up into a tall tree; the other moves to the YEW bush by the side of Emerson and plucks off a few of its small bright red berries before flying up to the same tall tree to join his fellow thrush.
  
  
• PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLY flies about and lands on the flowers in front of the Faculty Club and a Blue Jay flies into the Rose Garden there.
  
  
• CABBAGE BUTTERFLY dines on the nectar of the flat yellow flowers in front of the Faculty Club.
  
  
• Small dragonfly with transparent wings perches near the yellow flowers behind Loeb House.
  
  
• MONARCH BUTTERFLY flies onto low flat yellow flowers in front of the Faculty Club and then glides away past the front entrance, heading south.
  
  
• In front of the Faculty Club, a RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY flits at leisure along the length of the Club's facade.
  
  
• KOUSA DOGWOOD berries drop onto sidewalk in front of Langdell Library and other locations across campus, getting crushed into red ovals under pedestrians' feet.
  
  
• Two little girls gleefully roll HORSE CHESTNUTS down the steps of Byerly Hall in Radcliffe Yard on an unusually warm October afternoon.
  
  
• BRACKET FUNGUS the size of half a dinner plate erupts from the base of a HONEY LOCUST tree on JFK Street near Eliot House.
  
  
• Autumn breezes create chop at the Head of the Charles regatta; millions of golden honey locust leaves ripple in long strips in the wakes of boats and in the smoother waters downwind of the Larz Anderson Bridge pilings.
  
  
• Visit Cambridge Public Library's guidebook to 25 trees at Joan Lorenz Park, next to the Main Library. Download the PDF here.
  
  

Thanks to Campus Nature Watchers Wayne Carbone, Jennifer Carling, Linda Cross, Brandon Geller, Zak Gingo, Ann Heintz, Robert Heintz, Sonia Ketchian, David Morimoto and Rosalyn Reiser!

 

"From the standpoint of the sustainability of metals, the world is at a crossroads. After millennia of products made almost entirely of a handful of metals, modern technology is today using almost every possible metal. but often only once. Few approaches could be more unsustainable. If as a global society we can collect and reuse almost everything, design products with optimized recycling in mind, and use transformative technology to make the whole process exemplary, we will be helping to ensure that the materials scientists of the future have for their use the full palette of the wonders of the periodic table, and thereby provide society with increasingly innovative and remarkable products."

Barbara K. Reck, T. E. Graedel, "Science", 10 August 2012

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