Written by David Rivas, Specialty Recycling Intern

From switching to reusable bags at the supermarket to taking modes of transportation that produce less pollution, sustainability has become a part of our daily lives. The same is true at Tufts. As a community member on one of our four campuses, everyone has the opportunity to compost food waste at dining and residence halls, move-in and move-out sustainably, and (what I’ve been focusing on this summer) recycle unique items through our specialty recycling program.

Have you ever stared at a plastic bag or one of those Amazon shipping envelopes, wondering if you could put it in the recycling bin?

On first glance, it would seem that you should put them in a recycling bin since it often has a recycling symbol and is made of plastic. But, a closer look into Massachusetts recycling rules tells us that soft plastic should NOT be put into the regular mixed recycling stream. Traditional recycling facilities cannot handle soft items like plastic bags because they get caught and jam the machinery. But, that doesn’t mean that bag or envelope has to end up straight in the trash.

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse

Our first suggestion is to think of ways to limit the amount of items that you buy new to limit the amount of materials that you dispose of. If you already have items that you’re going to throw out – take a second to think if you can reuse said items in a new way. Maybe you use the plastic bag to line your dorm trash can instead of buying new trash bags. Or perhaps you could save the Amazon sleeve to store fragile items during move out.

Recycle, specially!

If you have accumulated more than you can reuse, you can next check if the item can avoid going to the trash and instead be composted, recycled, or specialty recycled. Specialty recycling is separate from traditional mixed recycling and allows you to recycle unique items instead of having to throw them away. Watch this video to see specialty recycling in action.

Specialty recycling bins can be easily found on your phone or computer using the Tufts Eco-Map, a user-friendly tool to find sustainability features on campus.

Tufts most common specialty recycling streams include:

• Plastic film: Allows for soft plastics such as grocery bags, bubble wrap, plastic padded envelopes, ziploc bags, and any other type of soft plastic classified as #2 or #4 recyclable. These are made into composite lumber for benches and shipping pallets.

• Batteries: Prevents toxic chemicals found inside batteries from being introduced to the environment and landfills. Battery terminals must be taped with clear tape (as shown) before being placed in the bins. Most buildings on our four campuses have battery recycling bins.

• Electronics: Broken cell phones, tablets, keyboards, charging cords, earphones, and other small electronics can be placed in electronic recycling bins. For large appliances such as monitors, microwaves, and printers, you can submit a Facilities service request to have it picked up. The metals and raw materials are separated out from these items and made into new electronics.

• Ink and toner: Empty ink and toner cartridges can be placed in a specialty recycling station or can be mailed to the manufacturer (we’ve partnered with W.B. Mason). These materials are taken apart and reused in new ink and toner cartridges.

• Textiles and clothing: Clothing, most types of footwear, textile-based accessories, linens, and stuffed animals are accepted in textile recycling locations. On the Medford/Somerville Campus, textile recycling is made possible with the help of Bay State Textiles, which have several large outdoor donation containers.

• Lightbulbs: Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) must be disposed of by a Facilities service request. These bulbs contain traces of mercury that are toxic, so it is best to keep them out of landfill areas. CFLs can be exchanged for LEDs at the Office of Sustainability free of charge! Incandescent and LED light bulbs can be placed in the trash.

There are also more campus-specific specialty recycling streams. At the Grafton campus, you can recycle contact lenses, razor blades, Brita filters, and Purina food bags. At the Boston campus, you can recycle fitness trackers and oral care products like toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, and floss containers.

Thanks to the efforts of many students and employees to dispose of waste sustainably, Tufts has achieved an extremely low 7% contamination rate in recycling streams, compared to average rate of 15-25% on other college and university campuses. To join this effort to divert waste from landfills and reduce pollution in our communities, we encourage you to get familiar with the specialty recycling locations on your campus and think twice before tossing items into the trash – you may be able to give them a second life instead.

We are proud to share that Tufts’ Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) has received the Honor Award for the Boston Society for Architecture’s 2021 Sustainable Design Awards, recognizing the SEC as an “outstanding achievement” that “demonstrates the systematic integration of sustainability.”

One of most energy efficient research buildings in the world

We sat down with the designers of the SEC, Payette (a Boston-based architecture firm), to find out why the SEC stands out in the field of sustainable infrastructure. They told us that from the very beginning, Tufts Operations Division, led by Barb Stein, vice president for operations, set an explicit goal to make the SEC as energy efficient as possible. The project team researched the best performing sustainable buildings at the time and set a target to surpass those achievements. “Sustainability was considered in every decision,” the team says.

These efforts resulted in a building that uses 70% less energy than a typical lab building, which are usually energy hogs compared to other types of buildings, and is certified LEED gold. Instead of demolishing existing buildings and starting new, the project built upon Robinson Hall and Bromfield-Pearson to join them together. This reduced carbon emissions during the building process and reused a large amount of building material. The Boston Society for Architecture cited this in their comments saying, “By saving an existing historic building and renovating another building (that was originally not included in the initial client brief), the existing building likely gained another 50 years of usefulness.”

The SEC also features:

• triple glazing on windows for temperature control
• a solar panel array
• ample natural light
• a rainwater capture system
• an ethical food sourcing café
• efficient heating and cooling, including a heat recovery system that re-captures up to 72% of the building’s heat that would otherwise be lost

Breaking Ground

According to Robert Pasersky, Andrea Love, and Diana Tsang of the Payette design team, this recognition from the Boston Society for Architecture provides validation for the team’s efforts and Tufts’ drive to integrate sustainability into everything they do. “This building project was not just about checking boxes to label the SEC as a sustainable building, Tufts set ambitious targets early on and the project team never lost sight of those goals,” says the Payette team.

With much more work ahead of us to reach our university sustainability goals, Tufts is building constant momentum to make energy efficient upgrades big and small across all campuses. With the recent opening of the ultra-efficient Joyce Cummings Center, Tufts is accelerating its progress to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.