Hokey meets Tom and Katie

thoughts on a meeting with the student senate.

Last night, Diana Kayes [Sustainability Coordinator] and I were given the opportunity to speak with the Student Senate at Westminster. Many strides have been taken to involve the Lawrenceville campus in the green efforts of the University, and it was our hope to drum up some involvement from the students in Princeton.

We were met with mixed responses from the roomful of 30-40 students who seemed to be surprised at this sudden push toward recycling. Here are some highlights from their comments:

• students often see trash in the recycling bins, so they figure why bother?
• there are not recycling bins near each trash can, so it’s inconvenient
• there are no recycling bins outside
• there is a lack of education concerning recycling–what can and cannot go in these bins?
• students are aware of the rumors that the recycling isn’t actually being recycled, so again, they figure, why bother?
• most were upset that double-sided printing and copying were not offered
• students who do make the effort to recycle are discouraged by the lack of involvement by both the university and fellow students

We took note of their concerns and addressed them as best we could. Some solutions included:

• ordering recycling bins, both for outside and inside, including individual dorm rooms and offices
• continuing to investigate recycling rumors to assure that materials that do make it into the bins are taken to be recycled
• informing that a double-sided printer is now in the library and will be configured soon for public use
• urging students to bring requests for double-sided copying to the foreground
• asking for volunteers to aid in educating the student body by hanging posters, helping to monitor recycling bins, etc.
• informing them of Rider’s involvement in Recycle Mania [more to come on that soon, I promise!]

I just want to remind the students that although it can be a very frustrating experience to talk about issues like this, especially when there may not be immediate results, it is a necessary means to an end. If we all work together to be more mindful of our wastefulness and take some responsibility for our actions, we can begin to see some real change on this campus.

[students, please feel free to comment or email. we would like to know your thoughts.]

Waster of the Week

The night staff left some paper waste on my desk this morning. Personally, I couldn’t stand the idea of 2 whole pictures of Tom and Katie going to waste. Luckily I run an art gallery out of my kitchen and I artified one of the pictures. The picture, “Tom and Katie in Love,” (scroll down to picture 4 to see my Andy Warhol) is currently priced at $100. Money from the picture sale will be given to a Green cause or Rider so that we can have Westminster start recycling their white paper a little more quickly.

A paper peacock.

Dumpster Diving

“o frabjous day, callooh, callay!”*

…we chortled in our joy!

two, monumental occurrences have, well…occurred this week.

[drum roll, please.]

1. Paperwaste has been linked to Rider’s student portal. You’ll find the link under the Recycle Mania competition info [more to come on that, by the way].

2. We just installed a double-sided printer for public use. It still has to be configured in the Pharos printing system, but things are looking up. Now we can finally say YES when students ask for duplexing.  Here’s a big THANK YOU to library chair, Mi-Hye Chyun, for making this happen.

*from lewis carroll’s “jabberwocky”

[ps- jabberwocky fans should look at this too]

Bet you a nickel you didn’t know this….

Folks, check this out–some things you may or may not know about recycling. Make sure your good ‘n’ green efforts aren’t for nothing.

When recycling paper, take this to heart:

• You don’t have to remove staples, plastic windows, spirals from notebooks. These get strained out when the paper is turned to pulp
• Remove tape if you can, because it tends to gum up the machines, but it’s ok if there is some left.
• No dirty or greasy paper (very important!!). This means no napkins or tissues (even if they are only slightly dirty)
• Do NOT recycle pizza boxes!!! Even IF the pizza box IS clean, they will still assume it’s dirty and toss it just the same, and possibly the whole container as well!
• Waxed, composite or laminated paper is generally not allowed, like milk cartons, fast food wraps, drink boxes. Note: Some places accept drink cartons, but I wouldn’t recycle it if it means getting milk all over clean paper and ruining it for recycling. I cannot emphasize enough that if that happens everything will get tossed!
• Thermal paper cannot be recycled - this means fax paper, but I also think it means supermarket receipts, which are increasingly printed on it are not recyclable also.
• Flatten cardboard boxes - again, if they are not flattened, they can be rejected.

Who knew?? Fantastic stuff. Of course, it will only matter if we all start paying more attention to what we do with our waste.

[These tips--and other great ones for glass and plastic--were found on confessions of a closet environmentalist, my new favorite green website.]

Party Hats