Reducing Waste

Did you know that 41 pounds of junk mail are sent to the average American adult each year? And almost half of this mail is sent to the landfill unopened (source: 41pounds.org).

Each year a few Green Skillet special projects are so successful that they warrant institutionalization across the board. The Green Grill is such a project and has proven a success in many kitchens this year. The Quincy dining hall staff have noticed a favorable trend in grill order waste since the bright green sign at the grill was posted.

Our inaugural key recycling campaign was a huge success, with departments from all across campus sending us keys. We ended up with over 2,000 keys which were brought to Whole Foods for recycling. The $75 made from recycling & selling the scrap metal will be donated to local food pantries.

Finding or giving away working surplus equipment, furniture, and books can reduce the environmental cost of production of brand new materials and disposal of the old, and of course it saves money.

Here are 6 ways you can optimize your chances of taking advantage of campus-wide sharing of equipment and supplies at FAS:

Michelle Gray and the staff at Dunster/Mather dining hall were searching for a different kind of special project for this year’s Green Skillet, a project with a larger impact than those they have pursued in the past and one that would get the Dunster/Mather community excited and involved. She wanted staff and students to take ownership of their own, individual environmental impact. But how?

On Friday, February 12th Law School staff, students, and faculty swapped items from home in a Valentine's Freecycle sponsored by the HLS Green Team. Between 10am and 12pm, individuals dropped by a classroom in Pound Hall with bags and boxes of books, movies, housewares, office and arts supplies, clothes, toys, electronics, and more.

In today’s economic climate we have to take advantage of free stuff. There is no embarrassment in swiping mini shampoos from hotels and collecting free perfume samples that are tossed at us at department stores. But, what is embarrassing is the sight of our random collection of sample-sized toiletries collecting dust in our bathroom cabinets.

The first FAS Eco-Citizens junk mail party was a huge success. Eight staff and students came together to call and email catalogs, journals, and other junk mail senders to remove staff names from the mailing lists.

The Harvard Office for Sustainability has teamed up with Whole Foods Medford to collect old keys for recycling. The profits will be donated to a local food pantry. So, clean out your junk drawers and send your old keys via University Mail by January 28^th to us at 46 Blackstone Street.

Learn more: www.keyforhope.org

As the trees are standing leafless and the temperatures are (finally!) dropping it's time to bring out our winter sweaters and wool socks. And, per habit, every time our closets change their duds we often discover long forgotten items that we'll doubtfully wear this winter, especially since that bulky christmas sweater saw no cheer last season.