Harvard Graduate School of Design
Adds Composting To Its Recycling Program!

I am pleased to announce that our recycling program is being enhanced to include compostables in Chauhaus, the GSD cafe.  This will be the first café on the campus to provide such a comprehensive program.

The Harvard Fact Book lists the GSD as having a recycling rate of 54%.  This is better than the Law School (37%) but not as good as Radcliffe (72%).  In addition, this year the Harvard Business School is on track to recover 55% of their refuse for recycling or composting.  GSD is in danger of falling behind!  With the help of Chauhaus, we plan to recover, for composting, all food waste and serviceware (including paper disposables, cutlery, and soup and coffee cups, as well as napkins).  This should bring our recycling rate close to, if not beyond, Radcliffe's.  Please help us keep more out of our trash by composting and recycling all you can!

There is signage on most containers and at the refuse station to guide you.

I would like to thank the collaborators: Aron Chang of the GSD Green Design group, the HU Dining Services team, Rob Gogan the guru behind recycling at the university, and of course, Adrian.

On a related note, using your reusable mug gets you a substantial discount on coffee in the café.

Thanks for your collaboration in our efforts.

Recyclables recovered:

In FY2007, Harvard GSD recovered 54% of its refuse, 117 tons, for recycling. This comprised of the following materials:

• 75 tons of paper & cardboard
• 4 tons of compostables
• 12 tons of containers (glass, metal & plastic)
• 25 tons of fluorescent lamps & used equipment
• 116 tons total recycling

GSD recycling also prevented these pollutants from release in 2007:

• 70.76 Tons of Carbon Dioxide (equivalent to 30 cars)
• 2.32 Tons of Methane
• 0.70 Tons of Monoxide
• 0.23 Tons of Nitrogen Oxides
• 0.22 Tons of Sulfur Oxides

GSD recycling and composting conserved these environmental equivalents in 2007:

• 788 trees (equivalent to 1.2 acres of pulp wood)
• 10 households' average energy use
• 1.08 blodgett pools (812,000 gallons of water)
• 5 truck loads of trash (480 cubic yards of landfill space)