The U.S. Green Building Council and the Princeton Review recently released a Guide to 285 Green Colleges. Haverford is described as having “so many accomplishments on its green scorecard that it’s hard to know where to begin”. Learn more>
CPGC Cafe
On Wednesday April 14th the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, in partnership with the Committee for Environmental Responsibility, cordially invited the entire College community to attend a luncheon to celebrate the kick-off of the “Going Greener” campaign!
CPGC is walking the walk when it comes to going greener. The café is using corn based flatware that can be composted. New containers have been clearly labeled for composting, recycling and trash. Food scraps are collected and delivered to the dining center for composting.
Below is the menu for the “Local Food” luncheon prepared by the dining center.
o Potato Leek Soup (Local Potatoes and Leeks)
o Turkey Sandwiches (Local Turkey)
o Grilled Portabella and Romaine Sandwiches (Grilled Portabella Sandwiches-Portabella Mushrooms and Romaine);
o Egg Salad Sandwiches (Local Eggs)
o Spinach Salad with Apples (Local Spinach and Local Fuji Apples)
o Artichoke Salad (Jerusalem artichokes, carrots turnips, parsnips )
And they’re not done yet. Director, Parker Snowe and his staff are looking into carbon offsets for their students who travel abroad this summer. Stay tuned…
Check out the full story
www.haverford.edu/news/stories/37431/10
Tucked away on Featherbed Lane, a little stone house built circa 1935 by Mathematics Professor Cletus Oakley, houses one of Haverford’s many hidden garden treasures. Five years ago Richard Ball took over the reins when Professor Lyle Roelof moved on to Colgate University and he has waged war on invasive plant species ever since. Gout weed, Lesser celandine and Norway maple don’t stand a chance when faced with Richard’s boundless energy. He won’t admit how many hours he spends in the garden but looking at what he’s accomplished over the last several years, it’s quite a lot.
While Richard loves most plants he considers himself a tree man. Scattered around his wooded garden are, at last count, 25 small trees that he has planted. Whether he bought them from the Forest Farm nursery catalog, a local native plant sale, or plucked them out of cracks in the sidewalk in Avalon, each plant is lovingly labeled the year it was planted and fenced off. Not just for protecting it from deer, but his own feet as he moves through the garden.
Chemical free, Richard has some unique ways of dealing with invasive species. Lesser celandine over the last decade has taken over our local woodlands, choking out the native flora. Richard has hand dug the bulbs, wheelbarrowed them over to a remote part of the property, and has covered the bulbs with a tarp. He’s hoping, one day, to be able to use the soil again. Another technique is picking up discarded boxes from the Dining Center and laying them over the plants he wants to eradicate and covering them with compost or wood chips. Previously, he had been using old carpet to smother the plants, but felt the cardboard boxes were a more sustainable approach as they can be tilled in once they break down.
Moving through the Dahlias, Crocosmia and Daylilies you come upon a grove with stone picnic benches built by 
Oakley, the home’s original owner. Shaded by evergreens, the tables and benches are covered with rocks. When asked about them Richard replied, “They just grow by themselves.” What to do with them? “My plan is to make a plan,” he replied.
His love for the garden is unmistakable. As horticulturists, the Arboretum crews have often walked through his garden and appreciated his work. Richard commented that this is the first year he feels that he’s seeing results that even the lay person can appreciate. So next time you bump into Richard on campus, ask him about his garden, he’ll be happy to fill you in.
This spring, Haverford College Dining Services along with the Committee on Environmental Responsibility(CER) started composting pre-consumer food waste. Since its inception in March of this year we’ve composted almost 10,000 lbs of melon rinds, potato peels and lettuce leaves etc. In turn the composted material is being used in the student garden located at the Haverford College Apartments (HCA) and in the community gardens located below Facilities Management. CER is currently working on in-container composting system where both pre and post consumer waste is composted.
Over a 10-week period in March and April Haverford competed in Recyclemania. This friendly contest and benchmarking tool for college and universities measures and ranks the recycling efforts of the schools that participate. Haverford achieved an impressive showing for a first-time entrant.
“I am very pleased and impressed with Haverford’s results for our first year in the competition,” says Meg Dickey-Griffith ’09 a Committee on Environmental Responsibility member and one of the coordinators of the event. ” As a small school focused on community and personal responsibility, it is fitting that we placed so high in the per-capita competition. Now that the student body knows what RecycleMania is and how well Haverford can do, I am optimistic for even greater participation and more recycling next year.”
Here are the results:
- Per Capita Classic Division, which pits colleges against each other to see who can collect the most acceptable recyclables per person:
Haverford ranked #17 nationally (out of 293 schools entered) and was #1 in the state (out of 30 schools entered).
-Gorilla Prize – Competition Division, in which schools compete to see which can collect the highest gross tonnage of recyclables, regardless of campus population:
Haverford ranked #171 nationally and #15 in the state, with 61,307 pounds of recyclables collected.
-Food Service Organics, in which schools compete to see which can recycle the largest amount of food service organics per person:
Haverford ranked #28 nationally and #5 in the state.
Used cellphones and laptops can’t go in the recycling with the empty soda cans and cereal boxes. So where do they go to be recycled once consumers find new ones? The National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) is working on that very problem.
Visitors who go to www.electronicsrecycling.org can click on the “Ecycling Basics” tab on the left side of the page to be taken to links to three websites that allow you to search by zip code or an interactive map of the U.S.
Once visitors have found some recyclers in their area, the next task is to
make sure the recycler is reputable. NCER offers the tools to do that as
well, in the “Ecycling Basics” section titled “How To Choose an
Electronics Recycler”.
In the “Resources” tab on the left side of the page, there are many links to resources that include Advocacy Group Reports, Electronics Disposal Studies, Environmentally Sound Management Guidelines, and International documents. Visitors interested in keeping up with the news from NCER, can sign up for their newsletter in the Google groups box, which is located below the menu on the left side of the page.
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009.
RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over a 10-week period, schools report recycling and trash data which are then ranked according to who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita, or have the highest recycling rate. With each week’s reports and rankings, participating schools watch how their results fluctuate against other schools and use this to rally their campus communities to reduce and recycle more.
Starting in the Spring, it is part of the President’s Climate Commitment. Check it out: www.recyclemaniacs.org/overview.htm
Did you know?
That’s not all folks…
Tips
The Haverford College Bookstore sells reusable bags and water bottles!
*Source: E Magazine May/June 2008
**www.treehugger.com
Fernandus Hall, Assistant Director of Facilities Management, Housekeeping Services, reports:
“We are currently revamping our recycling program. Allied 
Waste Management – our waste management/ recycling vendor – has switched to a Single Stream System. This system allows us to consolidate or various categories of recycling in one container. As a result of Single Streaming we are going to stream-line our process.
So far this year we have recycled over 1,300.00 yards of recycling, paper, cardboard, cans, bottles and plastics. We are hoping to expand our recycling effort to include more recycling items.
We are looking forward to working with Students and Staff in improving our recycling program. Stay tuned for future updates.”
View a PDF of what materials can be recycled on campus.
The recycling dumpster (pictured above) at the facilities complex is emptied every two weeks during the school year.
The Tommy T Challenges were an annual challenge to the Haverford Community to help the environment and ran for three academic years, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, and 2006-2007.
2004-2005 Challenge: “Do it in the dark.”/”It turns me on when you turn me off.” Purpose: To conserve electricity.
2005-2006 Challenge: “Do it front and back.”/”It turns me on when you turn me over.” Purpose: To reduce the amount of paper used on campus.
2006-2007 Challenge: “Do it in the dirt.”/”It turns me on when you break it down.” Purpose: To encourage composting of food scraps.