Lafayette College is a residential, liberal arts and engineering institution of higher education committed to providing the highest quality living and educational experience possible for our students, faculty, staff and invited guests.
In January 2008, then President Daniel Weiss joined the signatories to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment with the intention that “Campuses that address the climate challenge by reducing global warming emissions and by integrating Sustainability into their curriculum will better serve their students and meet their mandate to help create a thriving, ethical, and civil society.”
Current Lafayette President Alison Byerly reaffirmed this commitment by signing onto the We Are Still In campaign in June 2017.
Thus, the College is committed to the concept of waste minimization and the conservation of materials and supplies not only to meet national, state, and local laws and ordinances, but to reduce our carbon footprint by recycling, reusing, and eliminating waste.
The College understands its responsibility as a thought leader and a good corporate citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Easton to protect and preserve the environment. In concert with this responsibility, the College intends that students, faculty, staff, and visitors shall respect and uphold the College’s policies on recycling.
Lafayette College has a comprehensive goal to become an institutional leader in environmental stewardship. The Office of Sustainability, the Sustainability Committee, Plant Operations, the Department of Facilities Planning and Construction, and student groups, including ECOreps, LEAP, LaFFCO, Take Back the Tap, and SEES are leading efforts and partnering with groups like Residence Life, Campus Life, Student Government, and Dining Services to enhance sustainability on campus. Faculty and students in departments from environmental Studies to Civil Engineering are also instrumental in researching new ideas, finding solutions, and leading change on campus.
In order to reduce waste and to increase awareness of proper procedures for recycling on campus, the Office of Campus Sustainability, Plant Operations, and the Department of Facilities Planning & Construction updated this policy for students, faculty and staff in January 2018.
The College recycles glass containers, food and beverage cans, newspapers, plastic food and beverage containers, electronics (consumer appliances and computers), mixed office paper, cardboard, ink/toner cartridges, writing instruments, and batteries.
The College utilizes single-stream recycling so that mixed office paper, newspaper, cardboard, paperboard, plastic containers 1-7, glass, and metal containers can all be placed into recycling containers. There is no need for individual sorting of materials.
CARDBOARD-Please break down boxes so they lay flat.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE CANS -Please empty. Ideally containers made of aluminum, steel, tin, or a combination of metals should be rinsed.
GLASS CONTAINERS -Please empty. If possible, rinse and remove the lids. You do not need to remove labels.
MAGAZINES
MAIL -Including junk mail, and envelopes with the clear windows.
NEWSPAPERS -Including the colored inserts or advertisements.
PAPER -White office paper and colored paper. You may leave in staples, and paper printed with colored ink is acceptable. Acceptable items include notebook paper, posters, Post-It-Notes, print outs, etc.
PAPERBOARD -Examples include cereal boxes, granola bar boxes, or US Postal Service’s Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelopes. Please break down paperboard boxes so that they lay flat.
PLASTIC FOOD AND BEVERAGE CONTAINERS -Include plastics 1-7. Please empty plastic containers of liquids, food, or other materials before recycling. Examples of acceptable items include water and soda bottles, salad containers, milk jugs, shampoo bottles, and laundry detergent bottles.
Batteries (household, laptop, cell phone, power tools) and small portable electronics (cell phones, MP3 players, calculators) can be recycled through the Big Green Box program. Locations on campus include:
Most HP used ink/toner cartridges are recycled by using the prepaid, recycling package and can be deposited at the nearest overnight delivery drop box. The recycling bag is included in the ink/toner packaging. Another option for recycling is Office Depot’s MyBusinessRecycles program, which collects full boxes of recycled cartridges/toners. The toner for the Xerox copy machines are recycled through Xerox and handled internally.
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS are recycled each year during Electronics Recycling Day hosted by the Lafayette Sustainability Committee. This usually takes place during spring semester around Earth Week. Details are sent through campus wide emails, and commonly recycled items include laptops, cellphones, and televisions. Additionally, the College’s IT Department recycles equipment every year. For information regarding College owned computers, please see its.lafayette.edu/about/policies/recycling.
The following items are not included in the College’s single stream recycling program:
Clean packaging peanuts of all colors can be recycled locally at Pak Mail of Easton, 1700 Sullivan Trail #7, Easton, PA 18040. Additionally, participating locations of The UPS Store® accept clean foam packaging peanuts of all sizes, shapes, and colors for reuse. Plastic grocery bags are not included in the college’s single-stream recycling program. Plastic bags can gum up single-stream recycling equipment, and slow down the recycling process. Please recycle plastic grocery bags by taking them to local stores such as Giant, Target, Wegmans, and Walmart that have plastic bag recycling infrastructure.
COMPOSTING
Two Earth Tubs and composters are used to compost food waste.
GREEN MOVE IN
Cardboard and other materials like hard Styrofoam can be placed in labeled containers near residence
halls.
GREEN MOVE OUT
At the end of spring semester, all students are encouraged to donate unneeded clothing, shoes, books, office supplies, wooden furniture, non-perishable food, and toiletries to the Green Move Out Program. Collection bins will be placed in each of the residence halls and on the porches of off-campus houses. Donations benefit more than 10 local non-profit organizations. For more information please see https://sustainability.lafayette.edu/green-move-out/
RESPONSIBILITY and MONITORING
Plant Operations serves as the primary point of coordination for the recycling program in conjunction with the Office of Sustainability.
COMMUNICATIONS
Information on the College’s recycling program is distributed to all administrative offices.
WEBSITE
The College’s recycling website, which is written and maintained by the Department of Facilities Planning & Construction, can be accessed at http://facilitiesplanning.lafayette.edu/sustainability/csi/recycling/
Additionally, information about recycling can be found on the Office of Sustainability’s website: https://sustainability.lafayette.edu/
RESIDENCE HALLS
Each student is responsible for recycling glass containers, cans, newspapers, plastics, food and beverage containers, electronics, mixed paper, cardboard, ink/toner cartridges, and batteries. Each residence hall floor should have a single stream-recycling container paired with a trashcan at several locations to collect all single stream recycling and garbage. Custodians in each hall should remove the containers when full and take the contents to the central storage container for that building. Clear bags will be used in all recycling containers, as opposed to the black bags used in trashcans.
FRATERNITY HOUSES
Students living in fraternity houses are required to follow the guidelines for recycling as described. Plant Operations will then collect the recyclable at reasonable intervals.
EDUCATIONAL AND GENERAL FACILITIES OFFICES
Each office should recycle white paper either in centralized bins or in separate bins in individual offices. Both types of containers will be collected by custodial staff along with all other recycle materials.
CLASSROOMS
Each classroom should recycle white paper, aluminum cans, glass bottles, and plastic bottles in the nearest public recycling container.
MISCELLANEOUS AREAS
•Copy Rooms-A paper recycling container shall be placed in every copy room. The office custodian shall collect the recycled paper and bring it to the central storage location for the building.
• Vending Areas-A recycling container paired with a trashcan, shall be placed in every vending area. The building custodian shall collect the collected materials and bring them to the central storage location for the building.
• Food Service Facilities-The food service organization shall recycle cardboard and shall be responsible for bundling the cardboard and notifying the recycling vendor to pick up the material for Farinon Student Center, Marquis, and Gilbert’s. A single-stream recycling container paired with a trashcan will be placed in these locations for use by food service. The food service organization will be responsible for bringing these materials to the central storage location for the building.
• Farinon College Center-Occupants and visitors to Farinon Center are encouraged to use the single-stream recycling containers located throughout the building. The custodians shall remove the contents and bring the material to the central building storage area. Farinon College Center also has a depository for cardboard boxes outside of the post office. Students, faculty, and staff should break down their cardboard boxes and place them in the proper containers.
• Gilbert’s-All single-stream recycling containers are paired with a trashcan – both types clearly marked.
• Skillman Library-A newspaper recycling container and cardboard container will be placed in Skillman. The custodian will be responsible for notifying the vendor to pick up the material.
• Plant Operations-will recycle cardboard and shall be responsible for bundling the cardboard and notifying the recycling vendor to pick up the material. Plant Operations is also responsible for the recycling (and/or proper disposal) of all materials/waste resulting from their maintenance activities.
Central Building Storage Locations
The custodian in the area of the central storage location is responsible for monitoring this central storage container and calling the vendor or arranging transportation of the material to the vendor pickup site when the container is full.
The Quad, Metzgar Fields and Outdoor Areas
A clearly identifiable recycling receptacle shall be placed next to other trashcans on the campus grounds. These receptacles shall differ in color from the trashcans and will have blue recycling signage. Recycling receptacles shall be utilized during special campus events, e.g. family weekend, homecoming, com
R e c y c l i n g P o l i c y
1/8/2018