Do Your Part, Recycle!

…Or at least into a golden “A” for your dormitory or on-campus house. That’s right, it’s preliminary grading time for Recyclemania, and it’s time for you to start stepping up your recycling game!

Over the course of the next two weeks, Tufts Recycles! interns will be coming through each dorm and campus house to do the preliminary grading for this national competition, which takes place in the spring. Don’t be alarmed if you see students “digging through your trash”–we’re not judging you for the plethora of Pizza Days boxes! Instead, we’ll be looking at what percent of your trash is made up of things that actually should be recycled, such as plastic/glass bottles, aluminum foil, and PAPER–please recycle paper, that’s what those blue bins are for! We’ll also be checking out your recycling bins to make sure that contaminants aren’t ending up in there; things such as pizza boxes unfortunately cannot be recycled and must be trashed instead.

It’s important that every dorm and campus house put its best foot forward so we can show the rest of the nation that recycling is one of Tufts’ priorities! For a bit of history, in 2010 Tufts ranked 56th out of 267 participating colleges and universities nationwide. And one year earlier in 2009, Tufts placed 38th out of 206 colleges and universities. If we all take a bit more care to make sure that waste ends up in the right receptacle, I’m sure we can beat our previous record. Let’s go, Jumbos!

If your office is in need of chairs or tables, then you are in luck! There is a current surplus of furniture that is for internal use–72″ x 30″ tables, as well as red, gray and blue chairs are available. The chairs are all Cal 133 rated and in good condition.

If there is not sufficient demand for this furniture, it will be given to interested Tufts employees or donated to local charities and schools.

If you are interested in obtaining this furniture for your office, please email Dawn Quirk and she will coordinate a delivery time.

Chairs looking for a new home

40 tables like these are available

A new website was recently launched that allows people to buy and sell clothing to raise money! This money can go towards philanthropic groups and projects, or even for personal gain. The theme of the website is recycling for social change. Many of us have clothes in our closet that we do not need or want. All you need to do is upload photos of your unwanted clothes to the website for others to view and buy them. BuyMine will handle all of the logistics of pricing and shipping.

To get started selling, click here!

Balloon releases are beautiful in the moment, but they leave an ugly legacy

Since I was a little girl, I have been afraid of balloons for fear of accidentally letting one slip through my fingers and inadvertently causing the strangulation of an innocent dolphin or bird.  Upon finding out about an impending balloon release on campus, I shuddered to think of all of the wildlife it might impact. Initially I was reassured that the balloons used would be biodegradable ones, but upon further research realized that all latex balloons are biodegradable, since they are comprised of a mix of organic compounds.

“Biodegradable” is one of those words used by companies to trick consumers into thinking that what they’re purchasing has a neutral, or even positive, effect on the environment. While looking at several sites clearly operated by balloon manufacturers, I repeatedly came across the same claim: “latex balloons biodegrade at the same speed as an oak leaf.” There aren’t any oak trees in my backyard, but leaves seem to disintegrate pretty quickly, right? Wrong! Oak leaves take at least six to eight months to biodegrade, and latex balloons are no different. In fact, when in saltwater, latex balloons can take up to a year to completely degrade. In the meantime, these balloon fragments make their home in major waterways and pose a serious hazard to various types of wildlife that live there.

In the oceans, these floating fragments of balloons end up as “food” for birds and marine

A bird tangled up by a balloon and the string

animals. Because balloons are often brightly colored and drift along the surface, many marine animals, such as turtles, dolphins and whales, mistake them for jellyfish or squid. There are many reports of these animals dying after ingesting fragments of the balloon; the balloons get lodged in their stomachs and block the normal passage of food, so the animals die of starvation. Birds and marine animals are also often strangled by the tails of balloons, which do not decompose.

Many balloon companies claim that these effects on the environment are negligible, since most balloons fly five miles up in the air, freeze, and shatter into tiny pieces that are rarely consumed by animals. The problem with this statistic is that a majority of balloons do not rise this high, as strong winds and fair weather is necessary for the balloons to make such a journey. Instead, balloons fall to the ground, littering land and ocean alike.

While the sight of hundreds of balloons headed toward the heavens is poignant, the negative environmental side effects are too serious to justify holding a ceremony of that kind. There are many other symbolic observances that can be just as touching, and much less risky. Try a candle passing, or tie notes with messages of support to a tree (make sure to take down the notes after a few days). For people who have already purchased the balloons and publicized the event, participants could instead write notes and put them inside of the balloons before inflating them. Then, everyone could pop the balloons in unison as a cathartic exercise (of course, make sure they are disposed of properly, but this is much better than releasing them into the air!). If you hear of a planned balloon release in your area, please forward these ideas to the organizers of the event. The dolphins and birds will thank you!

Last Friday at ten in the morning, a time when most college students are still sound asleep, a group of girls from the Tufts chapter of Alpha Phi, along with Tufts’ Recycling Manager Dawn Quirk, were outside battling muddy slopes and mosquitoes. The girls were working in conjunction with Tufts’ first annual Reach Out! Service Day, an event cosponsored by Leonard Carmichael Society and Tufts Hillel that attracted over 300 people this year.

Trash behind Somerville High School

Dawn and the Tufts Alpha Phi girls were working with GroundWork Somerville at the second annual Green-A-Thon. Their task? To clean up sites that community members have categorized as none other than “dirty” and daunting.  By the end of the day, they had removed 15 bags of litter from the woods behind Somerville High School and the Commuter Rail tracks.

Tufts Recycles! would like to extend a special thank you to the girls of Alpha Phi who supported this effort, Dawn Quirk, and to the organizers of this event. We can all dedicate a few hours of our time to help make our planet a little bit greener!

Tufts Alpha Phi girls smile after the tricky task was completed!

With just a few hours of your time, YOU can help make this year’s matriculation zero waste efforts successful, and get paid doing so!

Just three years ago, food waste was composted for the first time during freshman orientation. Tufts Dining Services, the Facilities Department, the Tufts Institute of the Environment and the Office of Sustainability have teamed up with the Orientation Committee to ensure that meals served at matriculation are both low in waste generation and compost-friendly (e.g. no plastic films to contaminate the compost). Click here to learn more about composting at Tufts.

This year’s matriculation ceremonies will take place on Wednesday, August 31st. Please fill out an application form, and email your completed applications to tuftsrecycles@gmail.com. To learn more about shift duties and receiving payroll, please read this information sheet.

You will be briefed on what your specific responsibilities are before your shift and will be compensated nine dollars per hour worked. Most shifts are between two and two and a half hours long.

We need many people so please consider getting your friends involved! Thank you!

Tufts Recycles intern Rose Eilenberg is spending the summer in Alaska. Below is a photo of her on a recent hike.

Check back soon to learn more about Rose’s Alaskan adventures!

Does the idea of compost make you feel the opposite of composed? Are there used batteries collecting dust in your basement because the proper place for their disposal remains elusive to you? If so, you’re not alone; in 2010 only 8% of Americans composted their food waste, and our country throws out approximately 179,000 tons of  batteries annually. With stats like these, we can no longer afford to be ignorant where our environment is concerned. This doesn’t mean it’s too late for you though; since the best way to learn is by doing, stop by Boston GreenFest 2011 and turn over a new (green) leaf!

This year’s Boston GreenFest goes from August 18 to August 20 and will be hosted at the Boston City Hall Plaza. This festival is inclusive to all; hardcore environmentalists will geek out at the sight of the latest in green technology, while those who previously didn’t understand all of the hoopla about “organically grown foods” will finally taste the difference when they try fruits and vegetables that have been grown free of pesticides.

The three-day festival will feature several unique events meant to engage and involve the Boston community, such as an EcoFashion show, an interactive TimeTunnel, and the One Gallon Challenge, a car race from Plymouth to the GreenFest featuring cars that will drive the 111-mile distance on just one gallon of gas. Talk about sticking it to the pump! There will also be a green fireworks and light show as well as several performances, such as Samba dancing and a Native American drum ceremony.

Events begin at noon and conclude at one in the morning on Thursday and Friday, and the Saturday schedule runs from eleven in the morning until eight in the evening. Sample some eco-friendly world cuisines during your lunch break, or avoid Friday rush hour by making a pit stop at the Boston City Hall Plaza for some shopping at the EcoBazaar. Make it a point to stop by this year’s Boston GreenFest, and give green a chance.

To see a complete schedule of events and/or volunteer opportunities, check out the Boston GreenFest 2011 website.

Wondering what we’ve been up to?

Click on one of the links below to learn about what we have been doing this summer!

Tufts Recycles! has new headquarters

TR! is no longer housed at the Tufts Institute of the Environment in the rear of Miller Hall. While the move is bittersweet because we miss our friends at TIE, we are now home with Facilities Services where we belong.  The location at TIE was necessary because the Facilities Services building had no space for the program (A special thanks to TIE for the in-kind support over the last ten years!). To the credit of the Vice President’s Office, Facilities Services now has a newly renovated building that includes abundant space for TR!. We no longer have to cram ourselves, our files, desk and all of the recycling supplies and tools into a tiny office. Organizing the new space is proving tricky, however. Please check back here for pictures when we have finally completed the task. And wish us luck organizing- we need it!

Spring Move-Out Results

As you may know, last year we began transitioning our move-out recycling program Jumbo Drop to a program called R2ePack (Reuse. Recycle everything. Pack and clean….’K). While similar in logistics, the name change represents a massive paradigm shift.  While intended to be a recycling and reuse effort, the name Jumbo Drop seemed to endorse a chaotic culture at move-out, one where people seemed to walk out of the dorm leaving everything behind. The unmanageable move-out chaos prompted us to change the name. The essay Pat Rack Paradise, by Kelsey Schur, is an accurate description of the scene. The name R2ePack is basically asking students to please clean their rooms and manage their possessions responsibly before heading home for the summer.

Move-out this May was very manageable. There are many factors which contributed to the success and hopefully the name change is one of them (we can also thank the Eco-Reps for spreading the word in their dorms)!

Highlights from Move-out 2011 are:

• 2000+ lbs of clothing donated to Salvation Army

• 40 crutches for Catholic Charities (destination: Haiti)

• 100lbs of linens for the Tufts Veterinary Small Animal Hospital

• 15 boxes of books to the Prison Book Program

• 50+ foam bedding pieces for the Somerville Animal Control Officer

• 20 boxes of food to the Somerville Homeless Coalition’s Project Soup

• A 67% recycling rate! (52 tons of paper, glass, plastic, metal and wood recycled. 25 tons trashed)

• 1000lbs of carpet recycled

This summer, the TR! Interns are giving the donations boxes a nice upgrade by painting them pretty colors. We hope that upgrading the boxes will help students take note of the name change and the new message of responsibility next year.

Composting

Over the last few years there has been high demand for composting opportunities – both at routine lunches and large special events.  Our response has been to try to help out whenever and wherever possible. This spring semester, there were composting efforts at the President’s Picnic, the annual retreat of the Finance office, the Water: Systems, Science and Society (WSSS)  symposium, the Friedman Student Research Conference, the Fletcher Energy Conference, the Tufts Environmental Literary Institute, and the Provost’s Research Day on Sustainability. Forgive us if we forgot to mention an event- there is much going on!

Composting at special events is logistically very challenging, which is why we have yet to formalize a procedure. The use of varying caterers, the confusing market on “environmentally friendly” disposable-ware (isn’t that a paradox?), the need to serve things in bulk and the zero contamination policy of farmers (who process the food into compost) are just some of the issues that have prevented a step-by-step guide to composting at Tufts. This summer, we are compiling a list of logistical obstacles for Tufts. We will then be researching the realities of disposable-ware to hopefully pinpoint the best disposables, while of course recognizing that disposables are wasteful. The plan is to bring the information to an open forum in the fall (date to be released in August). Please email us if you would like an invitation at recycle@tufts.edu.

For those who want to compost in their offices, we currently have two bins where you can bring your compost and we hope to open a third one this summer. The uphill bin is located at the rear of Miller Hall,  next to the Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) office. The downhill bin is located at the rear Tisch Library loading dock. Coming soon: a third bin at the Facilities Services building.  When you compost, please keep in mind that compost is processed by farmers who cannot handle any contamination whatsoever.

New Website

A special thanks to Yuanyuan Wang for working diligently to transfer the information from our old website into a cleaner-looking WordPress blog! We hope that you will find the new site easier to navigate and read.