Recycling at FAS

What can be recycled at FAS?

Need a sign for a recycling bin?

Click on the images below to download recycling signs.

Paper Poster: Side
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Paper Poster: Top
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Co-mingled Poster: Side
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Co-migled Poster: Top
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Trash poster
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Need a recycling bin?

Recycling FAQs

Mixed Paper and Cardboard

“If you can rip it, you can recycle it”

paper

  • Catalogues
  • Junk mail (including mail with plastic window)
  • Magazines
  • Mixed paper (white and colored)
  • Newspapers
  • Paperback and hardback books
  • Phone books
  • NO COFFEE CUPS

Staples, Clips, Tape, and Window Envelopes are O.K.

Co-mingled (plastic, glass, aluminum)

Always check the bottom for the recycling triangle!

saladcontainer can bottle yogurt

  • All beverage containers (glass, plastic and aluminum)
  • All plastics labeled #1-7 (look for the small triangle on the bottom of the container)
  • Clean aluminum foil
  • Clean salad containers (check for plastic #1-7)
  • Juice and milk containers
  • NO STYROFOAM!

Lab Equipment

The International Science & Health Network, a Harvard graduate student organization, is collecting new, old and surplus lab equipment from your department to donamicroscopete to basic science and clinical in developing countries.

Acceptable Items include: Water baths, Benchtop centrifuges, Gel apparatuses, Microscopes, Heat blocks, Gloves, Eppendorfs, Pipettement, PCR machines, Vortexers, Power supplies, Cell culture plasticware, Pipette tips, Falcon tubes. NO RADIOACTIVITY!

Contact Nina or Paul at: ishn@hcs.harvard.edu with questions or to schedule a pick-up.

Electronic Equipment

  • Computers
  • Monitors

Contact your Building Operations Office to schedule a pick-up

Batteries

  • Alkaline batteries (regular batteries)
  • Lithium batteries (often from laptops)
  • Nickel-cadmium batteries (from watches, cell phones, etc.)

Batteries collection areas are located in the Building Operations Office in most of our buildings.

In Chemistry and Biolabs, you can bring them to the VWR stockrooms.

If there is no batteries collection area in your building, send your batteries by u-mail to Rob Gogan at 175 North Harvard Street.

Recycling FAQs

1. What do I do with bottle caps?
Before tossing your bottle into the recycling bin, be sure to remove the cap, then put both into the bin. Removal of the cap allows for evaporation and prevents retention of residual liquid. Extra liquid causes a number of problems: it adds weight, which adds to the energy (and fossil fuel emissions) necessary to transport the recyclables; it creates a mess and dirties the recycling plant.

2. Can I recycle envelopes with the plastic windows? What about staples? And spiral notebooks? Glossy advertisements? Post-its?
You'll like the answer to this one; all of these items are fine to toss into the "Paper" recycling bin. In the recycling process, all paper, even the glossy, is converted to pulp, and all non-natural fibers such as metal will be strained out. So don't waste your time removing staples, spiral bindings, or plastic windows!

3. Why can't I recycle pizza boxes?
The actual cardboard of the pizza boxes is recyclable; it is the food residue that is almost sure to have seeped into the cardboard that the recycling company doesn't want. When recycling collectors see a food-soaked item in a cardboard recycling bin, they may assume that the entire bin is "contaminated;" they can't take the time to sort out the good and the bad cardboard. We have to provide them with clean, ready-to-recycle products!

4. Can I recycle the plastic cups that are used with many of the water bubblers?
Yes! Solo® cups are recyclable, too!  Just put them into the “Cans and Bottles” recycling bin in your area.

5. Do I have to separate glass, plastic, and aluminum?
No. You can put anything that you call a bottle, jug, can or container into the same "Bottles and Cans" recycling bin. We are so clever with those names...

6. How important is it that I prepare recyclables correctly? Doesn't this take a really long time?
It is desirable to prepare items correctly before placing them in recycling bins. This means:
* Flatten boxes. If you don't, they will probably be thrown away.
* Clean out obvious food residue from plastics (such as a yogurt container). You do not have to rinse out drink bottles.

* Remove bottle caps (so that residue can evaporate and not add weight and mess).
Custodians cannot always take the time to separate dirty containers, remove pizza boxes, or flatten other boxes. Please take a few extra seconds and move any items inappropriately placed in the recycling bin to the trash - this will earn you major points from the recycling fairy!

7. Is recycling required by law in Cambridge/Massachusetts?
Recycling is mandatory in Cambridge.  Recycling at FAS helps the environment and helps us stay in compliance with city regulations. 

8. New York City isn't recycling anymore; why do I have to?
In 2002, New York City temporary stopped recycling glass and plastics as part of a budget cutting effort. They soon realized that ending recycling programs would not save the city money. They resumed bottle and can recycling on April 1, 2004. Not only is recycling good for the environment, but as New York City realized, it usually saves money, too!

9. Can I recycle batteries? Why should I?
You should recycle batteries because they contain toxic chemicals; if placed in a landfill, they could contaminate groundwater and soil. You can absolutely recycle them here. There should be a battery receptacle in each FAS building. If you're not sure where to find a receptacle, or would like one for your area speak to your building manager or contact CERP at energy@fas.harvard.edu

10. Should I buy rechargeable batteries?
Rechargeables can help to reduce the number of batteries used over time but they contain even more toxic materials (heavy metals) than standard batteries.  So if you use them, make 100% sure you dispose of them properly. Rechargeable batteries from any device (laptops, cell phones, etc.) should not be thrown in the trash. Recycle them!

11. What do I do with plastic bags?
There is no universal system for plastic bag recycling; that's why you should really make an effort to prevent the production and use of bags by carrying a re-usable bag or backpack. Plastic bags can not be recycled with cans and bottles as they are difficult to handle in transport and jam conveyor belts and air intake filters.

12. What can I do with packing peanuts?
Call the Peanut Hotline (Yes, there is a peanut hotline) at 1-800-828-2214 for a list of area businesses such as The UPS Store at 955 Mass. Av., Cambridge, (617) 868-5055, which accept plastic loose fill or packaging peanuts for reuse.

13. What should I do with my old cell phone (I know I shouldn't just throw it away)?
There are a variety of charities that not only safely dispose of old phones, but actually put them to very good use. Go to www.collectivegood.com to decide where to send your phone!

14. Where do Harvard's recyclables and trash go?
Harvard's trash is transported all the way to South Carolina...which uses quite a fair bit of fossil fuel, as you can imagine! Recycling, however, goes to nearby Charlestown, where it is processed for shipping to mostly local manufacturers. Thus in addition to saving the energy used to create new material from fossil fuels, at Harvard, recycling also saves transportation emissions!

15. How do I buy recycled?
The key to buying recycled products is reading labels. You must look for the trademark arrows of the recycling symbol, but that doesn't always mean the product is made from recycled material; it may simply mean the product is technically recyclable (sometimes, only if the product is returned in perfect condition to the manufacturer!). What you really must check is the ingredient list: you want to see the percent of post-consumer content. Many paper products promote themselves as recycled, but come from industrial surplus (called pre-consumer) that would be recycled anyway. Post-consumer means that another person has already used the material and it is being recycled to you. So that you can use and then recycle it, of course!

16. What is the process of recycling like?
There are three basic steps in the life of your recyclables: manufacturing, consumption and recovery. All three must occur before recycling is complete. Buy efficiently and buy recycled! Recovery occurs when recyclables are separated from discards; putting paper into a recycling bin is the first step in this process.
--At Materials Recovery Facilities, recyclables are sorted in preparation for processing. Magnets and air are used to divide up metals and light items. Employees separate out other items (so be kind and rinse your food containers). Mechanical sorters that use optics to identify different kinds of paper and puffs of air to sort it are also now being developed. This entire separation step may seem inefficient, but transportation and collection can be more efficient when separation is postponed; it's also easier to get people to recycle when they can throw everything together.
--At Processing Plants, sorted items are converted into usable material. Plastics get shredded. Different types have different specific gravities, so they will float/sink to different degrees and can then be separated. Paper is soaked in water. In the recycling process, plastic envelope bits float up and magnets remove staples. A large chain is rotated in the vat of paper goo, and tape remnants adhere to the chain for removal.

17. What are the top three simple steps I can take to reduce land filled waste and improve recycling at Harvard?
--Reuse and recycle your paper. Currently, almost as much paper is thrown away at Harvard as is recovered for recycling.
--Don't buy things you don't really need and buy in bulk to reduce packaging. --Recycle all year round, not just at the end of the semester.