Waste Reduction and Recycling

Working Group Minutes

Meeting Minutes
April 17, 2007

Attendees: Nancy Apple, Mike Buckley, Dave Williams, Rene Davis, John Fortini, Julie Parks, Roger Guzowski

I.   Discussion about ending of RecycleMania and final results

1. MHC was 37th of 175 schools in per capita classic
2. Brief discussion about the fact that the rules of RecycleMania are geared toward increasd participation, not accuracy of data. Discussion about the fact that some schools are only including part of the campus, and some are using fairly inaccurate volume-to-weight estimates to determine their weights. Excluding schools using only volume-based estimates and those who did not have the whole campus participating, MHC was 16th of 99 schools.
3. Also 37th of 66 schools in waste minimization

II.  Follow up discussion about recycling in the offices

1. Discussion of recent sort of waste in Ciruti by EAC. Few if any large slugs of recyclable paper in waste. Lots of food waste and food packaging. Some bottles and cans.

III. Review of procedures for end-of-year recycling in residence halls

1. Additional discussion for future years [if too late for this year]:
   
   1. Additional coordination between end-of-year recycling info and storage opportunities with MassStorage - Rene and Roger to coordinate closer in future.
   2. Add information to compost opened food waste from student rooms.

IV. Additional Member
Rene Davis and Dave Williams suggested adding John Trocchi to the Group because of his role managing custodial efforts in the residence halls. All in attendance were in support of this addition.