Waste
Mount Holyoke College produced a total of 2,351 tons of waste in the fiscal year of 2014. Out of this total, half was horse manuer which gets composted in Belchertown. Not including the horse manuer, Mount Holyoke recycled 55% of its waste. This is a 15% increase since 2006, and below is shown the percentage recycled since 2003.
Our paper and plastic recyclables to to Springfield Materials Recycling Facility and Sunoco Products Holyoke. Recyclable construction materials go to Ondrick Construction in Chicopee. And our electronics are recycled at Holyoke Environmental Integrity. A lot of electronic recycling faciilities are abroad so we reduce our carbon footprint by recycling our electronics so close to campus.
in 2014 MHC's trash disposal cost totalled $219,000. The trash waste goes to Covanta Energy from Waste Facility in Springfield. Another name for an energy from waste facility is an incenerator. Incenerators are very detrimental to the environment, releasing many toxins in the process of burning waste.
There are two main ways to reduce waste: in the short term we can keep things out of landfills and incenerators by recycling and composting more and in the long term we can consume less. Below the graph displays the composition of Mount Holyoke's trash as of 2012 and how over 50% of what is being thrown away could be diverted from the incenerator. Mount Holyoke could reduce its waste by increasing recycling and composting knowledge and by introducing composting to dorms and academic buildings.
Mount Holyoke has "free bins" located in each dorm where students can leave clothes and other things they no longer want for other students to have for free. The college also has "Jorge's Trading Post" which is a website for students to buy and sell second-hand products. These are both great ways in which Mount Holyoke students are reducing waste and starting to create a long term solution by consuming less and resuing more.
Information from: Nancy Apple, Richard Bigelow,
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/sites/default/files/envstewardship/docs/recyclewhatsleft2012.pdf,