Last week, The City of Medford announced it would be launching a citywide Adopt-a-Drain program. Participants can now sign up to care for a storm drain near their home or work and volunteer to check on it a few times a month to clear any trash, leaves, or debris that might have been swept into it.
Storm drains are grates on the sides of streets and roads, along the curb. Since asphalt and pavement can’t absorb water, any rain or melting snow flows along the street and into these drains. Anything that goes down a storm drain flows directly into local lakes and streams without being treated. When debris clogs drains, stormwater accumulates and picks up chemicals and bacteria from things like pet waste, garden fertilizer, and road salts. Once the water can get through, it washes any litter down the drain with it, further polluting local bodies of water and harming wildlife. Keeping storm drains clear is an easy way to prevent this pollution and ensure a healthier watershed.
To adopt a storm drain, sign up on this webpage. Participants can search for drains in their area of Medford, select and name their drain, and volunteer to check on it occasionally, especially before and after heavy rain or snow. For more information about the program, visit here, and to learn more about Tufts’ local watershed, check out the Mystic River Watershed Association website.
Adopt-a-Drain is a great volunteer opportunity for members of the Tufts community as it is a low commitment way to connect with the larger Medford community and local water systems.
Adopt-a-Drain was created and designed by Ali Hiple, a Tufts UEP Graduate Student and Tisch Summer Fellow. Another Tisch Summer Fellow, Anna Cornish (A22), saw the program through to completion.
Each year during spring semester Move-Out, the Tufts Office of Sustainability collects donation items as part of its “Trash to Treasures” program. The purpose of Trash to Treasures is to divert salvageable goods from landfills and instead provide them to community members who will use them.
DONATION STATION LOCATIONS
Visualization of donation station locations.
There will be two staffed donation stations, equipped with trailers and collection bins:
Wednesday, May 4th – Friday May 7th: No donation stations, but students may drop off accepted donation items at any of the four UPods 24/7
Saturday, May 8th – Friday, May 14th: Lower and upper campus donation stations are open and staffed from 10:00am-5:00pm daily
Saturday, May 15th: Lower and upper campus donation stations are open until 12:00pm
Picture of UPods. Peel apart velcro and open using handle on side door.
OFF-HOUR DONATING
UPods are open for drop-off at all hours from May 4th through May 15th at 12:00pm.
If someone needs to donate at night or early morning when the donation stations are closed, please drop-off donations inside of one of the four UPod locations.
ACCEPTED DONATION ITEMS
Clothing, sheets, shoes
Household items: storage containers, dorm decor, fans, vacuums, large and small lamps, mirrors, waste bins, laundry baskets
Dining hall dishes
Books and school supplies
Crutches and exercise/sports equipment
Unopened, non-perishable food
Cleaning supplies: laundry detergent, brooms and sweepers
Media items (DVDs, VHS, CDs, vinyl records, Blu-Ray, etc.)
We will have additional collection bins at both the lower and upper campus donation stations for recycling the following:
Plastic film, including grocery bags, air pillows, bubble wrap, and produce bags
Broken small electronics
We DO NOT accept:
Mattresses
Pillows
Hangers
Hazardous items (for more information about battery and lightbulb recycling at Tufts, visit our specialty recycling webpage)
RECYCLING AND WASTE
To increase the efficiency of Tufts’ Move Out process, bring your recycling and trash to an outside dumpster. This will ease the load on our hardworking custodial and Facilities staff.
RECYCLING
Recycling dumpsters have blue lids. View up-to-date locations of campus recycling dumpsters on our Eco-Map.
Trash dumpsters have black lids. View up to date locations of campus trash dumpsters on our Eco-Map.
There will additional be large open top trash dumpsters placed at the following locations: Harleston Hall (2), Latin Way (1), Carmichael (1), Talbot (1), Miller Hall (1), and Hill Hall (1).
View our website for more information about how to properly dispose of your waste at Tufts.
Tufts University’s Auxiliary and Transportation Services department has announced the construction of a new solar carport for charging electric vehicles. The carport will be located in the Cohen Parking Lot on Lower Campus Road in Medford. It will provide charging for up to six electric vehicles. Construction of the carport will begin April 15, 2021 and is expected to be completed on April 30, 2021.
In the near term, parking spots in the carport will be on a
first-come-first-served basis for Tufts University permit holders. Possible
future enhancements may include the ability for electric vehicle drivers to
reserve spaces using a parking management system app.
“We’re really pleased to be able to offer additional
electric vehicle charging stations on the Medford campus. Not only is this a
positive step toward promoting more green methods of transportation, but the
carport fits squarely within Tufts’ overall commitment to environmental
sustainability,” said Jason McClellan, senior director of Tufts University
Auxiliary Services.
This pilot program, offered in partnership with iSun Energy, will generate energy measured by a separate meter, and excess power produced will be distributed to the grid. “By partnering with iSun and our electricity utility, the solar carport joins Tufts other solar projects in helping the Commonwealth reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2050, as required under the new comprehensive climate change legislation signed into law by Governor Baker in March, 2021,” said Tina Woolston, director of the Office of Sustainability. “This in turn, helps Tufts reach its own goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.”
Tufts has a range of specialty recycling programs through which its community members can sustainably dispose of items that cannot be conventionally recycled. This includes items such as batteries, ink and toner, textiles, and as of 2018—plastic film! Tufts’ plastic film recycling program is a partnership between local grocers and Trex, a composite decking company.
In September 2019, Tufts signed-up for a Trex challenge to recycle 500 pounds of plastic film in 6 months. Between student Move-In, Dining Center kitchens, the mail room, and a range of other efforts, Tufts was able to meet this goal. In turn, we won a Trex bench made out of recycled plastic film!
The plaque on the bench.
How did we win the challenge?
Learn more about how we engaged the Tufts community and recycled enough plastic film to win the challenge:
Student Move-In and plastic film recycling:
Some plastic film from Move In 2019.
Each fall when students move back to campus, they bring with them a range of packing items, often including a large amount of plastic film such as air pillows and bubble wrap. During Fall 2019 Move-In, our recycling workers circulated the residence halls and dumpsters with special bags for collecting plastic film from students. We were able to collect 192 pounds of film during Move-In alone!
Residence hall recycling competition and waste audits:
Contamination in the recycling from one of our waste audits, mostly consisting of plastic film items.
Later in the 2019 fall semester, the Office of Sustainability (OOS) recycling team partnered with the Eco-Reps to hold a residence hall recycling competition. We judged the competition through a series of 11 waste audits in the residence halls. Through good-spirited competition, we educated about and encouraged proper recycling.
The waste audits also provided valuable qualitative and quantitative data about diversion rate, contamination rate, and the most common contaminants in the recycling stream. Contaminants are when items that cannot be conventionally recycled are placed in the recycling bin, thereby contaminating it.
Plastic film bin expansion and educational campaign:
After noting from the waste audits that plastic film items
were one of the most common contaminants in the conventional recycling stream,
the Eco-Reps and OOS recycling team embarked upon a plastic film recycling
educational campaign. This involved a range of efforts, including but not
limited to:
A plastic film specialty recycling bin
Starting a new plastic film specialty recycling bin at the Boston campus (currently on hiatus during COVID)
Creating new audience-specific plastic film recycling signage (a general sign, a mail room sign, and a sign for the Dining Center kitchens catered to their specific items)
Fielding staff and faculty Eco-Ambassador requests for new bins in select spots
Creating and sharing social media and newsletter content educating about plastic film and the specialty recycling program
Eco-Reps put out “pop-up” plastic film recycling collection bins in the residence halls
How can I recycle plastic film at Tufts?
Plastic film items include soft plastics such as grocery bags, bubble wrap, plastic padded-envelopes, air pillows, and even bread, cereal, and produce bags.
Our general plastic film recycling sign.
These items cannot be conventionally recycled because they
get tangled in the machinery at the sorting facility. This can shut things
down, costing time and money and posing a safety hazard to the people working
at the facility. Watch this
video to learn more about the hazards that plastic film poses when placed
in the conventional recycling bin.
Reducing waste is a great away to avoid this problem, such
as through using reusable bags instead of grocery bags. However, if you do find
yourself with a plastic film item, specialty recycling it at Tufts or at your local
grocer is a great way to divert it from the landfill!
Though the plastic film specialty recycling program was paused at Tufts due to challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, as of February 2021, the program is back up and running. Learn more about what to recycle on our webpage and find specialty recycling bin locations on our Eco-Map.
What happens when I recycle plastic film at Tufts?
Here’s how the full process works:
Tufts community member drops their plastic film items into a plastic film specialty recycling bin on campus
The Office of Sustainability’s specialty recycling intern services the bins on a regular schedule, taking the plastic film to a local grocer accepting plastic film in partnership with Trex
Trex picks up the film from the grocery store. They clean and grind the film into granules and combine and heat it with sawdust. The resulting mixture is formed into boards.
Plastic film is recycled into eco-friendly decking, benches, and other outdoor living products! You can learn more about this process from Trex here.
The circular economy and product transformation of plastic film recycled at Tufts.
On Thursday December 10th, forty members of the Tufts community gathered virtually to watch the Green Fund finalists pitch their project ideas. After the event, the committee deliberated and the following three projects were awarded funding:
Medford/Somerville Campus:
FlowGreen at Tufts, presented by Mia Nixon: FlowGreen uses QR code and landing page technology to make up-to-date recycling information and options readily accessible for Tufts community members, encouraging both a greener campus and a community committed to Zero Waste. This project will help people make informed decisions on what to recycle, and all recycling bins on campus will be outfitted with visible QR codes which are directly linked to local recycling guidelines. These FlowGreen stickers will promote engagement around proper recycling and help minimize the waste created by traditional flyers and pamphlets.
Tufts Hydroponics Collaboration, presented by Kevin Cody & René LaPointe Jameson: This collaborative project will fund the initial operation and implementation of hydroponics equipment recently gifted to New Entry Sustainable Farming Project creating research and experiential learning opportunities for Tufts students, as well as community engagement opportunities with an innovative agricultural technical school and grassroots non-profit organization. This project will establish a collaboration with Building Audacity of Lynn, MA and Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School to design, build, and operate commercial hydroponics equipment to achieve three primary objectives:
Develop a hydroponics farm-to-school pipeline. This will be done with Essex Tech where they will build and operate a portion of the hydroponics equipment in an already existing greenhouse on their campus in Danvers, MA with the produce going primarily to the school cafeteria.
Support food access efforts already underway with Building Audacity, a nonprofit that will build and operate a portion of the hydroponics equipment at a facility in Lynn to serve low-income communities of color.
Integrate the Tufts community in ways that will support the development of an online training course in hydroponic farming, create opportunities for workshops in adult education that serve Tufts/New Entry participants and integrate students and courses from Environmental Engineering, The Friedman School, Urban Environmental Planning, Environmental Studies/Biology, and the Department of Education.
This project was awarded funding totaling $21,319.65.
Disposable Mask Recycling,presented by Juliette Nye: This project will establish recycling boxes for disposable masks at the Grafton Campus. These boxes will be situated in the Jean Mayer Administrative Building on the Grafton Campus where students, faculty, and staff are administered their COVID-19 tests. Community members will be able to recycle their masks as opposed to throwing them in the trash, reducing waste. PPE waste can also harm wildlife through ingestion and entanglement.
