Recycling
Facts
- The ecological footprint for Dartmouth's trash is 5.3 acres (Earth area needed to manufacture, transport and dispose including forest area to sequester CO2 emitted in all processes) while only 4.6 acres is available for each person's entire lifestyle.
- Using recycled materials reduces the need to chop down, extract, process, refine and transport natural resources such as timber, crude petroleum and mineral ores.
- According to the U.S. EPA, over 20 million personal computers became obsolete in 1998 and only 13% were reused or recycled.
- Electronic circuit boards, batteries, and color cathode ray tubes (CRTs) can contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium. If improperly handled or disposed, these toxins can be released into the environment through landfill leachate or incinerator ash.
- Toxic pollution from landfills -- including cyanide, dioxins, mercury, methane, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and lead -- escape into the air and leaches into groundwater.
What you can recycle at Dartmouth
- Dartmouth picks up recycling at Greek houses on Mondays (for most, but not all houses) and building custodians manage recycling collection. There are bins and pick-ups at every dorm.
- Paper: mix all paper together including white paper, colored paper, window envelopes, post-its, manila folders and envelopes, newspaper, glossy magazines, Xerox drawings, boxboard, telephone books, copy paper wrappers. No plastic wrappers.
- Glass: all colors.
- Aluminum cans: no liquid residue.
- Plastic: PETE #1-7, no food/liquid residue.
- Tin cans: no food residue.
- Aluminum, plastic and tin can all be mixed together because they all go to Coca-Cola. But it is very important that there is no food/liquid residue on them.
- Cardboard: breakdown all boxes. No waxed cardboard or Styrofoam.
- Styrofoam packing peanuts: place in a clear plastic bag and tie at the top.
- Clothing: place in a clear plastic bag and tie at the top.
- Have clearly labeled bins in your residence so that people know what to separate and what to keep together.
- If you need recycling bins in your area please contact your custodian or blitz "Dartmouth Recycles."
- If you have a large volume of bulk recycling please blitz “Dartmouth Recycles” to arrange for extra bins and pickup.
- Make sure to dispose of hazardous wastes properly.
- Put laser toner cartridges and florescent light tubes in their original boxes, mark them “recycle” and put them out with regular recycling.
- Blitz "Dartmouth Recycles" to get free mailers or pick-up for the following items: inkjet cartridges, batteries, transparencies, CDs and diskettes, cell phones, pagers, PDAs, bicycles.
- Blitz "Procurement Services" for pickup of used computers, electronic equipment and appliances.
Resources
Contact: John Fay at 296-3688 or guvswd@valley.net
Certified safe cleaning products:
- Managing Hazardous Waste in Your Home: A guide to Safe Disposal and Less-Toxic Alternatives. Produced by the Vt. Department of Environmental Conservation. To obtain a booklet contact Tom Benoit at 802-241-3472 or thomas.benoit@state.vt.us
