Howdy!

Winter term is fully under way, so we thought now would be a good time to remind you about the waste system at Dartmouth. If you have ideas for reducing waste on campus or questions about waste at Dartmouth, stop by Sustainability Office Hours, Thursdays 12-2PM in Robo 108.

What isn't Recyclable:

Corn-based plastics (such as the soup lids & salad bowl lids)
Plastics with a wax film over them, Plastic wrap (like from Collis baked goods)
Napkins
Paper Towels
Any containers that have copious amounts of food or food-residues in them (dump that last, half eaten chicken nugget in the compost or landfill!)
Forks, Knives, and Spoons from any food locations (TRASH THEM)

What goes into Compost:

Food, food, food! All the food you didn’t eat! FOOD SCRAPS only!

This video is also helpful and a good way to procrastinate!

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Campus Services, the folks in the Sustainability Office, and your Winter Waste Interns, Charlie Levy ’19 & Kira Beaudette ’18 are doing as much as they can to make recycling as clear and easy as possible for you. But we need your part in making Dartmouth a institution that is mindful about the amount of waste if produces! Have an idea for something we could try or do better? Send us an email!

What we are doing?

Continuing to audit waste and identify where contamination is coming from
Sending out reminders about ways in which each individual can reduce their own personal waste
Updating signage & waste collection infrastructure to clearly state what goes into each bin
Expanding new, food-only, post-consumer compost collection system (one proposed by past student waste interns) to Novak and the Hop.
Manning waste collection points with volunteers to help you figure out what goes where

What you can do to help?

— Sort! Dump food waste in the landfill or compost and recycle your recyclables. Sort better than ever! Pay attention to new signage and talk to volunteers about how to properly sort when you see them!

— Tell your friends to sort! Making sorting cool!

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The SustainabilityTask Force is tasked with setting a new Waste Goal for campus. Go to President Hanlon’s office hours and tell him that sustainability means a lot to you and that you hope the goals Dartmouth adopts this spring, especially those around waste, are ambitious and that campus prioritizes attaining these goals!

— Reduce your own personal waste use! That is even more important than recycling! Dartmouth generates over 3000 tons of waste per year and we should be working on reducing that number, not just diverting it from the landfill. BYO!

Have a great week!

The Sustainability Office team