Thursday, July 9, 2009

Recycling bins, Electricity and New Furniture

For residence life we provide recycling bins for all of the residence halls. All of the residence halls have recycling and my hall staff encourages recycling through events and competitions. Some of the hall staff also helps with the collection of recyclables. We have recently joined the Green Team for the recycle mania.

As for electricity, during semester breaks (winter break, spring break, or summer break) the hall staff checks to make sure that students have everything unplugged, thermostats turned down, and blinds closed. We also check to make sure that students don’t replace the water saving shower heads in their bathrooms. The hall staff also helps me remind students not to leave their windows open in some of the buildings that have AC units that run constantly if windows are left open. We also do health and safety inspections once a semester where we look for issues including overloaded outlets and unauthorized appliances.

I’ve mentioned in the past on the Jinx Tale “points of pride” that we have recycled and donated old unused furniture last summer. Again this summer we recycled 2460lbs of metal bed frames out of Wallingford Hall. When purchasing new furnishings for the residence halls I always strive to choose “Green” products. Our most recent furnishing addition was 150 new beds in Wallingford hall. They were purchased from a company called KLN Steel. KLN uses recycled products and environmentally preferable products, KLN has been declared "GREEN" by GSA and is listed in GSA's Environmental Products and Services Guide. KLN is the only furniture manufacturer on federal GSA schedules that has earned the environmental designation. KLN earned this designation through its initiatives in recycling, packaging, green fuels, land use and VOC reduction. You can find out more about this manufacturer’s environmental initiatives at http://www.kln.com/Environmental/index.aspx