Do Your Part, Recycle!

Ever wonder what happens to all the old phones that end up in the electronics recycling bins around campus?

Bins like this around campus.

… Well, the TuftsRecycles! team is proud to announce that 95 “gently-used” cell phones were sent out today to Cell Phones for Soldiers, a non-profit organization that sells old cell phones to a company that recycles them and uses the profits to provide calling cards and free phone service for deployed and returning military personnel.

Just another great way that old goods can be turned into useful resources!

Thank you to everyone who dropped off their shoes in the new bin located at the Tisch Sports & Fitness Center!

Here's our first full box of shoes sitting in the TuftsRecycles! office. In a few days, it will arrive in Africa where these kicks will go to secondhand vendors to be resold and reused.

Thanks for doing your part in reducing waste & supporting microbusinesses. Keep ‘em coming guys!

- The TuftsRecycles! Team

Last Tuesday night, Tufts University was recognized at MassRecycle’s 17th Annual Recycling Awards Ceremony, receiving the Silver Institution Recycling Award. MassRecycle’s awards recognize “the outstanding achievements by individuals, public servants, municipalities, businesses and organizations in promoting recycling and waste reduction in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

Dawn Quirk and Betsy Isenstein receive the Silver Institution Recycling Award on behalf of Tufts

The Awards Ceremony, which was held at InterContinental Boston—a previous award winner—celebrated the various recycling efforts throughout Massachusetts. The Ceremony also included two new awards: the Public Servant Award, which recognizes a politician, regulator or municipal staff for his/her outstanding recycling and waste reduction work, and the People’s Choice Award, which allows the public-at-large to vote via MassRecycle’s Facebook page for their favorite nominee.

This was Tufts’ first nomination for a MassRecycle award and we faced fierce competition against Harvard and Clark University. We want to thank all the custodial workers from UGL who are instrumental in keeping our recycling and waste reduction program operating, as well as Betsy Isenstein, Dawn Quirk, and Jesse Carreiro. In addition, congratulations to Rob Gogan and the Harvard team for coming in first place!

A few months ago, we blogged about Better Place, an international company that is blazing the trail for an increased use in electric vehicles, or EVs. Though the widespread adoption of EVs is still a ways away, the electric car is slowly creeping its way into the forefront of our society as Americans, as Massachusetts residents, and even as Tufts students. Don’t believe me? Ask Bob Aronson, Facilities Manager at Tufts’ Boston campus, who recently purchased an electric-powered Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

The i-MieV, or Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle, can travel up to 60 miles on one charge and uses the equivalent of over 100 miles per gallon of electricity! Bob reports that these numbers are even higher based on his own experiences, as he average 70-80 miles per charge. Commuting every day from Medfield to the Boston campus, Aronson saves thousands of dollars every year in gasoline costs as well as barrels upon barrels of oil.

“I ride my bike to work as much as I can, but that’s only 6 months out of the year, weather permitting,” Bob explains. “My only other vehicle was my pick-up truck, which gets 14 or 15 miles to the gallon. It pushes snow, it lugs lumber, but it’s not the greatest commuting vehicle.”

After receiving an ostensible junk e-mail regarding Mitsubishi’s newest vehicle, Bob did the research and saw the utility in an electric car. Now, he owns one of, if not, the first fully electric vehicles in Massachusetts. Bob charges the car at a home charging station specially installed near his garage.

There are three levels of charging for electric cars. At Level 1, roughly the normal wattage of electricity in a house’s wall outlet, a full charge will take up to 16 hours. Level 2, the type at Bob’s house charges a car from E to F in 6-8 hours. At the final grade, Level 3, a dead car will zap up to a full charge in under an hour.

Though the home charging station installation cost roughly $1500, the savings have already begun to mount. A full charge at Bob’s charging station costs him upwards of $3 — roughly $0.15 per gallon! Bob even lists his home charging station on PlugShare, an iPhone community app for electric car users. The app projects a list of charging stations over a Google map, a convenient tool for any electric car driver on the go. So far, he hasn’t charged anyone for charging at his house.

“I wouldn’t put a meter on my charging station,” Bob says, “though I wouldn’t say no if they bought me a couple of beers.”

Five years from now, Bob likes to think, the electric car will be the new standard. Bob paid about $30,000 for the options he chose for the i-MieV (including a level 3 charging port), but with a $7,500 tax rebate from the federal government, it came out to a total of approximately $22,500. With such a great value, the i-MieV is the frontrunner for the electric car that will revolutionize the roads for the future.

This Fall has brought exciting changes and updates to our recycling program on the Medford/Somerville campus. Returning students may have noticed the new Fitness Center, new pavements, and new landscaping in front of Gifford House. However, what you may not have noticed—at least right away—are all the exciting ways in which our campus has gotten greener since last Spring. Here’s an overview of some of the exciting new recycling developments on campus and a sneak peek of what’s to come:

1.  South Hall – Once you walk around South Hall, it’s hard not to notice all the recycling opportunities. Over the summer, all the recycling stations were updated and improved; with our “gecko green” colored walls they’re impossible to overlook! In addition, we are all extremely excited about the new Freecycle Stations throughout South Hall. While recycling is great, reusing is even better! Leave old reusable items that you no longer need in the Freecycle station so others can use them, saving resources and money.

One of the new Recycling Stations and Freecycle Stations in South Hall

2. All Dorms – Jealous of south hall and wish your dorm had similar recycling and freecycle stations!? Facilities is hoping to replicate both of these features as they continue renovating dorms in the coming years. While we can’t guarantee that the stations will look exactly the same in every dorm, you can definitely keep a lookout for the gecko green walls and our new Recycling Jumbo logo in the years to come!

3. Steve Tisch Sports & Fitness Center – We are excited to announce that there will be a new recycling option at the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center! The custom made bin below includes the usual trash, paper/cardboard recycling and metal/glass/plastic recycling bins and will soon be updated to include a new recycling option, not yet offered anywhere else on campus. Any guesses?

One of the two plastic recycling bins will be changed to feature our new recycling option. Any guesses!?

4. Freecycle Giveaway – We are so happy that our Freecycle Giveaway on September 1 was a HUGE success. We gave away 3 truckloads of dorm essentials, saving environmental resources and money. Thank you very much to everyone who participated!

5. Recyclemania – It’s that time of year again! Preliminary grading for Recyclemania begins next month. Recyclemania is a 8-week long competition that will crown one of 547 participating colleges and universities the biggest reducer of waste. Here at Tufts, you’re not only competing against other schools, you’re also competing against other dorms. Our initial grading will give you an idea of where your dorm stands. It’s up to you and your fellow hall-mates to improve your recycling and improve your score throughout the year. So do you part, recycle!