"The only division of the University that does better than Gund is Radcliffe Institute, which composts a large fraction of their refuse."
"Trash bag count at Gund went from 94 bags in 1998, to 61 bags in 2001, to 42 bags in 2003, to 26 bags in 2005."
"The general message to students is separate items for recycling whenever possible. It is good for the environment, it saves money, and it creates jobs for people in the city."
"All paper except that used to contain food (pizza boxes which are likely oily or saucy), beverages (coffee cups), or personal hygiene papers (tissues and towels) are recyclable including trace paper and chipboard."
Rob Gogan
Recycling and Waste Management
Harvard University Facilities Maintenance Operations
Recyclables recovered:
In FY2005, the Harvard Graduate School of Design recovered 55% of its refuse, 99 tons, for recycling. This comprised of the following materials:
- 51 tons of paper & cardboard 9 tons of compostables
- 4 tons of containers (glass, metal & plastic)
- 35 tons of used furniture, computers and other equipment
Resources conserved:
Recycling and composting conserved these environmental equivalents:
- 8 households'
- 536 trees average energy use (equivalent to 55 acres of pulpwood) ( 693,000 .92 Blodgett Pools gallons of water)
- 5 truck loads of trash ( 432 cubic yards of landfill space)
Pollution prevented:
GSD recycling also prevented these pollutants from release in 2005:
- 60.39 tons of carbon dioxide (equivalent to 10 cars)
- 1.98 tons of methane
- 0.59 tons of carbon monoxide
- 0.20 tons of nitrogen oxides
- 0.19 tons of sulfur dioxide
Special Waste:
This category includes lumber, scrap metal, furniture and other surplus. The "Landscape Compost" number is based on a formula based on area to calculate leaves and grass clippings removed for composting.Costs for refuse removal are all above and beyond collection costs, which are about the same for all commodities.
Costs are per ton for this fiscal year:
| Trash | $87 |
| Cans and bottles | $25 |
| Lumber | $70 |
| Compost | $70 |
| Monitors/TV's | $500 |
| Batteries | $1,000 |
Revenue-generating commodities:
| Paper/cardboard | $25 credit |
| Scrap metal | $40 credit |
| Electronics w/o CRT's | $80 credit |
I. Recyclables collected Tons (% of total discards)
Paper 48 26%
Corrugated cardboard 3 2%
Containers 4 2%
Total basic recyclables collected 55 30%
II. Compostables collected
Landscape refuse 9 5%
Food scraps 0 0%
Animal bedding 0 0%
Total collected for composting 9 5%
III. Other recyclables collected
Special wastes recovered 0 0%
Other recyclables recovered 35 19%
Total other recyclables collected 35 19%
Total recyclables collected 99 55%
IV. Trash collected
Routine trash collected 73 41%
Bulk trash (large items, trees, etc.) 8 5%
Total trash collected 82 45%
V. Campus Population (most recent data)
Students 536FTE Faculty & Staff 200
Total campus population 736
Per capita recycling 269 pounds recycling per person
Per capita trash 223 pounds trash per person
Per capita Ttl discards 491 pounds discards per person
(pounds total discards divided by total campus population)
Useful Links
- Green Seal Copy Paper Report (Adobe PDF)
- Green Seal Paper Towel Report (Adobe PDF)
- UMASS Amherst Environmental Benefits Report
- Fun Facts About Recycling
- Green Seal Office Supplies Report (Adobe PDF)
- Amazing Recycling Factoids
- What Happens When You Recycle?
- Town of Cary Recycling Trivia
- Anchorage Recycling Center
For questions about how to make further improvements in your building's recycling and waste reduction, please call 5-3042 or visit the UOS website: http://www.uos.harvard.edu/fmo/recycle/fmo_bottom.html
For questions about the processing of various recyclables: http://www.uos.harvard.edu/information/dep_fac_sol_faq.shtml
Thanks for reducing, reusing and recycling!