My “aha” moment was seeing so much waste in the dorms and cafeterias during college. The food and packaging discarded struck me as an environmental scourge, but also wasted opportunity. I realized making products from garbage would create a business with two revenue streams – collecting waste and selling recycled products!

In honor of National Campus Sustainability Day on October 24, Mount Holyoke is starting a new tradition, Sustainability Week! This year, students, faculty, and staff have come together to celebrate with several special events going on from October 20-27. I’ve written about some of the highlights below. If you’re interested in doing more, check out the college’s additional offerings on the official Sustainability Week page.   First up, the Eco-Reps are launching a TerraCycle Campaign. We will be in Blanchard tabling about it from 4:30-5:15 on Monday, October 22. TerraCycle is a nonprofit organization, which takes items that are often thrown in the trash and recycles or upcycles them into wallets, binders, picnic tables, and more. Here at MHC, you can help by thinking before you throw away food packaging such as Frito-Lay & Deep River chip and pretzel bags. There will be collection bins in Blanchard starting Monday and in Kendade the following week; you won’t be able to miss them. Each collected bag earns $0.02 for Gardening in the Community, a youth-focused urban agriculture project which offers kids the chance to learn how to grow food in the city, providing access to healthy produce in Springfield, MA.   Tired of junk food? Don’t worry. You can still participate in Sustainability Week and get fed, too. On Tuesday, October 23, the Food Justice Society is teaming up with Dining Services to throw an Iron Chef Competition in Torrey Dining Hall. The competition will showcase student talent and local ingredients. Cooking will take place from 4:00-6:00 p.m. The most important part, tasting, will be from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Email Maxine Getz with questions. Despite all the tempting treats, Sustainability Week isn’t just about food; it’s about all aspects of green living in a college community. On Wednesday, October 24, from 4:15-5:30 p.m., come to Blanchard’s second floor and lounge area to check out Mount Holyoke’s environmental initiatives. Participating groups--The Environmental Action Coalition, Office of Environmental Stewardship, Facilities Management, Food Justice Society, Miller-Worley Center for the Environment, Dining Services, Library and Information Technology Services, Parking and Fleet Services, and Campus Police--will showcase videos, demonstrations, and tips for how you can keep the college green. Did I say Sustainability Week wasn’t all about food? I was kidding. There will be sweets.   Later that day (Wednesday, October, 24 from 7:30-9:00 p.m.), the Eco-Reps and Food Justice Society are hosting Eco-Jeopardy in Blanchard’s Great Room. Tim Farnham, chair of the Environmental Studies Department and Director of the Miller Worley Center for Environment will stand in for Alex Trebek. Other professors and students will be on teams, testing their eco-knowledge in a range of categories. The winners will receive baskets stuffed with things like fair trade chocolate, natural lip balm, and framed photographs of MHC's campus in the fall. Everyone who attends gets to watch with a mug of hot cider and my favorite donuts from Atkins Market. I suggest you donate $2, which will help local nonprofit Gardening in the Community continue their fantastic programming, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Bring your friends and your reusable mugs. For more information, visit the Event Page or contact the Eco-Reps with questions.   Lastly, on Thursday, October, 25 7:30 p.m., the Miller Worley Center for the Environment will present their Environmental Leadership Lecture in Gamble Auditorium. Robin Mann, former Sierra Club president and MHC class of 1973, will discuss where the environmental movement is headed and talk about her experience with one of the most powerful environmental organizations in the country.   I hope to see you out celebrating and learning more about environmentalism at MHC. Let’s make Sustainability Week yet another MHC tradition to remember!

Auf Initiative des Stifteherstellers BIC und der Recyclingfirma TerraCycle hin wurde ein Programm für Schüler entwickelt, die dazu anregen soll, den Wert ihrer leeren Stifte zu überdenken. Auf der Bildungsmesse Didacta, die vom 24.-26. Oktober  in Basel stattfindet, bietet BIC zudem Messebesuchern die Möglichkeit, ihre leeren und defekten Stifte und Korrekturmittel direkt vor Ort zu recyceln, teilt TerraCyle mit. Schulen, Kindergärten und Kindertagesstätten können jetzt an einem neuen Recyclingprogramm für Schreibgeräte und Korrekturmittel teilnehmen, welches zum Ziel hat, Schüler aktiv am Umweltschutz  zu beteiligen. Das Programm beinhaltet, dass Schüler ihre leeren Schreibgeräte und Korrekturmittel sammeln und kostenlos einsenden, sodass diese zu neuen Produkten recycelt werden können. Als Gegenleistung dafür werden pro eingesandtem  Schreibgerät oder Korrekturmittel zwei Rappen an eine gemeinnützige Organisation nach Wahl der Bildungseinrichtung oder direkt an die Schule gespendet.

Le personnel de la Maison des Services de la Communauté de Communes de la Basse-Zorn prouve son engagement pour la protection de l’environnement dans sa vie quotidienne au travail en participant à une nouvelle initiative de recyclage.

This September, Stuyvesant’s Environmental Club began to take part in the Brigade programs of TerraCycle, an organization that engages consumers in the collection of recycled packaging and products. With each collected item, TerraCycle offers points that can later be redeemed for charitable monetary compensation.   Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a 20-year-old Princeton University freshman, TerraCycle began with the production of organic fertilizer by packing liquid worm fecal matter in old soda bottles. Since then, the company has grown into one of the world’s fastest-growing green corporations. According to the organization’s official website, “with more than 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries, TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.”   TerraCycle’s Brigade programs offer any organization or company the opportunity to make use of their waste stream. Aimed at eliminating the idea of waste, each Brigade program involves the collection a specific commodity—whether it is bottles, writing utensils, or electronics—previously regarded to be non-recyclable or difficult-to-recycle. Once an organization has selected a specific “Brigade” and has begun to collect waste, TerraCycle offers free shipping of the waste to the TerraCycle facility as well as points for each item collected. TerraCycle points can be redeemed for charitable gifts or a payment of $0.01 per point to a non-profit organization or school of one’s choice.   President of the Environmental Club senior Geyanne Lui first became aware of the importance of recycling when she took AP Environmental Science in 2011. “I noticed that a lot of people didn’t care about recycling—people threw all types of garbage in trash cans labeled specifically for cans and bottles or paper only,” Lui said. “I thought that it was important for there to be a program to show Stuyvesant students how easy it is to recycle as well as how significant it is.”   Looking for a way to bring a more organized recycling system to the school, Lui and the members of the Environmental Club consulted their faculty advisor and biology teacher Marissa Maggio for advice. Maggio had already been aware of TerraCycle, first becoming familiar with the organization through one of the students taking her online Environmental Biology course. In fact, last year, she introduced the Brigade program to her Stuyvesant freshman biology classes and offered extra credit to those that took part in bringing recyclable products from home for TerraCycle. After her students cumulatively raised approximately $150, Maggio thought that the Stuyvesant student body as a whole would be able to raise significantly more money.   With Maggio’s guidance, the members of the Environmental Club decided that TerraCycle would be a great organization to become involved in. In choosing Brigades they believed Stuyvesant students would most efficiently and conveniently contribute to, the club decided on the Chip Bag Brigade due to the sale of chips from the cafeteria vending machines, the Electronics Brigade, and the Flip-Flop Brigade for the summer season that just passed.   “Many schools in the city haves similar recycling programs,” said senior and Environmental Club member Kenneth Zheng. “The elementary school across from Stuyvesant, P.S. 89, is going to have their own TerraCycle program, and we are planning on collaborating with them to ship more recyclable waste together. We are also starting a mentoring program in which members of the Environmental Club volunteer during lunch periods to go over to P.S. 89 to teach the elementary students about recycling.”   However, before the club branches out to help other schools with their environmental cause, its members have been working to establish a structured system of recycling within Stuyvesant. Bins labeled for specific items have been placed in the cafeteria, and during lunch periods, certain club members help to engage other students in Stuyvesant’s TerraCycle Brigades and promote the conservation of resources. Moreover, the Environmental Club has created a recycling drive to collect cell phones, graphing calculators, ink cartridges, keyboards, cameras, and flip-flops.   The Environmental Club has decided to donate the money that is earned from the TerraCycle points to the Sierra Club, an organization that strives to successfully transition into a clean, green energy economy that better serves people and nature. The club members look to raise approximately $5,000 by the end of the school year.   Lui ultimately hopes that Stuyvesant’s TerraCycle Brigades will have both short and long term effects. “For starters, as we are collecting more waste to send out, we are raising more money for our charity that we are going to donate to. But, in the end, I hope that Stuyvesant students will become more accustomed to recycling in school, will not litter the streets, and value the environment more,” Lui said.   Maggio agrees and believes that the new recycling program will set the standard for not only Stuyvesant but also the broader scale of New York City. “Stuyvesant High School has always fostered rigorous academics and has really set the bar for scholarship in schools throughout the region, if not nation. Our [TerraCycle Brigades] can be another instance of how we excel—not just to benefit ourselves, but the environment as a larger whole.”

Just in time to get things under control before the holidays, Emmet County Recycling and Crystal Clear Organizing are offering an organizing class. The class, titled "Organize and Recycle," is part of an initiative by the Michigan chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the Michigan Recycling Coalition, bringing together organizers and recycling programs to offer these classes. A Terracycle laptop computer case made from recycled billboard material and a set of stackable recycling bins will be given away as door prizes. Both presenters will include ideas for keeping recyclables organized.

The entrepreneur: Tom Szaky The company: Founder, TerraCycle "What happens in the world that is outside of our control. Europe has been hammered by austerity, China may be slowing slowing down (we don't really know), Japan is now into its second lost decade. "What happens when China stops buying our debt? What about poor economic conditions around the globe that leave foreign markets unable to afford to buy our products? Domestically, housing is the most important concern and should get more focus."