Guide to Sustainable Living Living an eco-friendly lifestyle at Harvey Mudd College

2016–2017

Table of Contents

Guide to Sustainable Living Living an eco-friendly lifestyle at Harvey Mudd College FIRST EDITION

Harvey Mudd College Hixon Center for Sustainable Environmental Design 301 Platt Boulevard Claremont, CA 91711

Adapted from The Little Green Book (Pomona College Sustainability Integration Office) and The Green Guide (Pitzer College Office of Sustainability)

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle............................................................................................. 4 Recycling.................................................................................................................... 4 Composting................................................................................................................ 4 Electronic Waste (e-waste)......................................................................................... 4 During Move Out........................................................................................................ 5 In Your Room............................................................................................................... 6 Lighting and Energy Use............................................................................................ 6 Climate Control.......................................................................................................... 6 Cleaning Tips.............................................................................................................. 6 Saving Water.............................................................................................................. 7 Saving Energy............................................................................................................ 7 Reducing Waste......................................................................................................... 7 Personal Care and Cosmetics.................................................................................... 8 Laundry......................................................................................................................... 9 Washing and Drying................................................................................................... 9 Computing and Printing............................................................................................ 10 Laptop and Desktop Energy Saving Tips................................................................. 10 Laptop Batteries....................................................................................................... 10 Printing..................................................................................................................... 11 Dining and Eating...................................................................................................... 13 Reducing Waste....................................................................................................... 13 Food Choices........................................................................................................... 13 Sustainable Food Terms........................................................................................... 13

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ABOUT THIS GUIDE

As California endures an historic drought and as the world faces the consequences and impacts of anthropogenic climate change, Harvey Mudd College must do its part to reduce its ecological footprint. This requires a holistic and deliberate change in practice—reducing our waste output; conserving water and energy; and making changes in our food and material consumption. All members of the HMC community— students, faculty and staff alike—must make an effort to change their habits as part of this greater effort. To address this need, the Hixon Center for Sustainable Environmental Design offers the Guide to Sustainable Living. This guide provides a comprehensive list of opportunities and suggestions for readers to embrace a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. We hope that this will serve as a resource for the HMC community for years to come and are optimistic that even a quick perusal of this guide will lead to sustainable change on campus.

If you would like to learn more about our efforts to make Harvey Mudd College a more sustainable campus and find out how you can participate, please contact the Hixon Center at [email protected] or visit our website at hmc.edu/hcsed

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REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE. Recycling The City of Claremont has co-mingled, single-stream recycling. This means that everything goes into the same bin, on the condition that it is all clean. • All Plastics #1-7, including cups and film, plastic packaging, lids and six-pack rings—almost all plastic items! Do not include plastic bags. • Aluminum, steel and tin cans, and foil • Glass (all colors) • Paper and cardboard, including newspapers, magazines, envelopes with plastic windows or bubble lining, egg cartons and paper bags. • No waxy beverage cartons1

Composting At this time, composting is not available on the Harvey Mudd College campus. However, the Hixon Center, Facilities and Maintenance (F&M) staff, and HochShanahan Dining Commons staff are working collaboratively to bring composting to campus by 2017. Compost services are accessible and available on the Pomona and Pitzer College campuses. Check out Pomona College’s Little Green Book or Pitzer College’s Green Guide to learn more about where you can dispose of your compost. What you can compost on other campuses: • Produce scraps (vegetable and fruit scraps, peels, rinds, seeds, etc.) • Vegan food scraps (all food; no meat/dairy) • Thin paper (Kleenex, napkins, paper towels) • Green waste (flowers, leaves, twigs, etc.) • Other biodegradable/compostable items (coffee grounds, tea bags, etc.) What you can’t compost: • Non-vegan food scraps (meat, cheese, etc.) • Biodegradable/compostable plastic items (e.g., SpudWare). They require pre-processing that cannot be handled on the other college campuses.

Electronic Waste (e-waste) To dispose of electronic waste (e.g., batteries, computer monitors, cables, etc.), please visit F&M, the mailroom or the first floor of the Norman F. Sprague Center.

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For more information, visit www.ci.claremont.ca.us/home/showdocument?id=610

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Do MORE than recycle! While recycling materials is certainly better than sending them to the landfill, it is not a solution to our waste problem. Recycling uses a lot of energy, and most plastics and paper can only be recycled a few times before becoming too brittle for use. Focus on reducing consumption and reusing products to reduce our waste in the first place. Reduce then Reuse then Recycle!

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - WASTE AUDIT In April 2016, the Hixon Center conducted a waste audit with help from the office of Facilities and Maintance, Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons and student volunteers sorting through nearly 620 pounds of campus trash from a single day. By weight, 48 percent was compostable and 38 percent was recyclable! Only 14 percent of the waste should have actually been going to the landfill.

During Move Out You may have collected a lot of things over the course of a year or four, but try to avoid throwing everything you don’t need into the trash. Consider the following when preparing to leave the dorms: • Properly sort your waste into landfill and recycling. F&M provides large dumpsters for students to sort their waste into, so please make sure to do this properly when getting rid of trash at the end of the year. •

Sell or donate furniture, appliances or other materials you don’t need. Chances are that someone could use your desk lamp. Do your best to give your items to someone else before throwing them away. Craigslist is also a viable option for selling items.

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IN YOUR ROOM Lighting and Energy Use

• Turn off the lights! Easy to do, but easy to forget. •  Use daylight whenever possible. No need for lights during daytime if a window is nearby. • Use more efficient light bulbs. Fluorescent, compact fluorescent (CFL), LED, and other efficient bulbs use much less energy than traditional incandescent lights. CFLs are the best choice in most instances. • Share appliances, such as refrigerators. • Unplug items when not in use, or plug them into a power strip that you can turn off. Almost every electronic item, especially chargers, uses “standby” power as long as it’s plugged in, even when turned off. Note: Standby power, “phantom load,” is responsible for an estimated 5 to 10 percent of U.S. residential energy use.2 Eliminating phantom load would be the equivalent of shutting down 17 coal-fired power plants! 3 • Use rechargeable batteries. Save money and reduce resource consumption and hazardous waste. For more information, visit www.stopwaste.org/docs/ rechargeable_batteries.pdf • Use Energy Star appliances. Energy Star certification is an EPA certification program for products that save energy without sacrificing features or functionality.4

CFLs AND MERCURY CFL bulbs contain mercury. An estimated 11 percent of the mercury content remains when the bulb burns out. But power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions, so you actually contribute less mercury with a CFL because of a reduced need for mercury-heavy power generation!

Climate Control

• Avoid using A/C or heating if you don’t need it. Cool yourself down by opening a door or a window, and warm yourself up by putting on extra layers. • If needed, raise the temperature of your A/C during the day. This will still keep your room relatively cool, but it will use less energy than it would to cool down the room during the nighttime.

Cleaning Tips

• Buy non-toxic and green cleaning supplies or make your own with vinegar and water. • Reduce waste by using a washable cloth rag to clean. • Baking soda works well as a natural deodorizer and scrub for the sink and shower. • Unclog your drain by pouring one part baking soda followed by two parts vinegar down the drain to break up blockages. • Borax mixed with warm water is a natural disinfectant! 6

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - GHG EMISSIONS Between 2011 and 2012, Harvey Mudd College’s energy use generated approximately 6,777 mTCO2e (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent).

Other Stuff

• Conserve trash bags. Dump out the trash and reuse the bag. • Fix something instead of buying a new item. • Buy used. Before buying something new, post an ad on Chirps, visit a local thrift store or browse Craigslist to see if you can get a used item instead. • Donate used goods instead of throwing them out. Place items outside of your room with a “free” sign, and make sure everything gets taken. • Get free recycled notepads from Duplicating Services (on College Ave. across from Seaver North)

Saving Water

•  Turn off the faucet whenever you can. You don’t need water running while brushing your teeth, soaping up your hands or scrubbing dishes. •  Take shorter showers. By reducing your shower time by 30 minutes a week (roughly five minutes/day), you’ll save 3,900 gallons of water! Tip: Use a shower timer (get one from F&M) or a song to help you keep track of time. •  If you feel comfortable, talk to your bathroom-mates about establishing an “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down” policy.

Saving Energy

• Take shorter/fewer/cooler showers. Less hot water = less energy use. Note: Every five minutes you spend in the shower uses around 1.2 kWh of electricity to heat the water, the amount of energy needed to burn 10,100-watt bulbs for one hour. • Turn off the lights when you leave! Many forget this in campus bathrooms.

Reducing Waste

• Place a hand towel in your residence hall bathroom. It feels softer, uses fewer resources and produces less waste than paper towels! Note that you may have to put up your own (removable) hook for your towel. • Remember to recycle! Toilet paper cores, paper towels and empty plastic bottles from shampoo and other bathroom products should be recycled.

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Personal Care and Cosmetics •

Avoid microbeads. These are microscopic plastic beads used in many exfoliating products. These aren’t removed by sewage treatment and can harm aquatic animals. Did you know that CA AB-1699 passed in 2014 banned the sale and manufacture of microbeads?

• Check the ingredients. Because cosmetics aren’t FDA-regulated, they can include hazardous chemicals. Check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database for more info, ewg.org/skindeep/

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - ECO-PERIODS Feminine hygiene products create a huge amount of waste: nearly 2.5 million tampons, 1.4 million pads and 700,000 panty liners each year! Fortunately, there are many great products, from reusable medical-grade silicone menstrual cups like the Keeper and DivaCup (available at the Coop Store and Motley) to cloth pads.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (2009) Scheyder, Ernest (April 10, 2009). “Phantom Load: Save Some Cash, Get Unplugged.” 4 www.energystar.gov/productfinder/ 2 3

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LAUNDRY Washing

•  Only do laundry when you have full loads. Machines use the same amount of energy, no matter how many clothes you put in. Pair up with a friend if necessary. • Do laundry less often. • Purchase environmentally friendly laundry products. Look for products that are 2x or 3x concentrated and have natural ingredients. Explore www.betterworldshopper.com or GoodGuide for good brands. • Donate leftover laundry products at the end of the year. • Wash using cold water. About 90 percent of the energy used by the machine goes to heating water, and advances in detergent mean that hot water is no longer necessary. • Use half the recommended amount of detergent. Since Harvey Mudd has efficient front-loading washing machines, half or less of the recommended amount of detergent will still get your clothes clean. •  Wear clothes more than once before you wash them. Jeans, shirts, sweaters and pants can be worn multiple times before washing.

Drying

• Air dry your clothes. Air drying reduces energy use and lengthens the life of your clothes. F&M can provide drying racks. • Clean out the lint screen before using a dryer. Dirty lint screens cause dryers to use up to 30 percent more energy. • Nix the fabric softener and drying sheets. Fewer chemicals means a healthier you and a healthier environment.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - SAVING ENERGY CAN SAVE YOU MONEY!

Cost of Washing: $1 Cost of Drying: $.50 • Five (5) loads of laundry per month = Twenty (20) per semester This would cost $30 each semester for laundry alone, a total of $240 over four years. • If you were to air dry just half of your laundry, you’d save $5 per semester. • If you were to air dry all of your laundry, you’d save $10 per semester and $40 throughout college. • If you were to air dry all of your laundry AND reduce laundry by two loads per semester by only washing full loads and washing only dirty clothes, you’d save an additional $56.

You could be paying $144 instead of $240, a total of $96 in savings!

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COMPUTING AND PRINTING Laptop and Desktop Energy Saving Tips

•  Turn off your computer completely when not in use. Although “sleep” settings reduce power use, when you won’t be using your computer for an hour, it is best to completely shut down. • Lower your screen’s brightness to a level that is still comfortable. The brightest setting on a monitor uses twice as much power as the dimmest setting. You’ll also go longer between charges if you use the dimmer setting. • Make sure you’re using energy-saving settings. Set your screen to go to sleep mode after five minutes of inactivity. Check out www.energystar.gov for instructions on how to enact these settings for various operating systems. •

Don’t use screen savers. Screen savers were originally used to prevent monitor-damaging phosphor burn. However, today’s monitors are not susceptible to such damage. Screen savers can actually use up to twice as much energy as a computer in use.

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Unplug peripheral devices such as printers, chargers and speakers when not in use. Ensure that these don’t draw phantom loads. Another option is to plug them into a power strip that you can switch off when not in use. “Smart” power strips detect when these devices are off and shut off power to those outlets.

Laptop Batteries

• Keep it cool. One of the best ways you can extend your battery’s life is to keep it from overheating: 

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Use a cooling pad when using your laptop on your lap. A cooling pad sits under your laptop and allows for more airflow, usually with a motorized fan. A  void putting your laptop on a soft surface. Your computer’s fan cannot function properly when it is on a soft surface, such as a pillow or blanket. Keep your desk clean. A messy desk can lead to dust in your computer’s vents, which clogs the cooling fan. Don’t store your laptop above 80˚F.

•  Do not fully discharge your battery every time. Unlike nickel-metal hydride batteries, lithium ion batteries (the kind-used in most laptops today) perform better when they are not fully discharged each cycle. Instead, it is better to discharge only partially before recharging. A full discharge is needed about every 30 charges.

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Printing

• Work on the computer and avoid the printer.  ead and annotate PDFs and Word documents on your  R computer rather than printing them out. If you want to digitally annotate or highlight a PDF, use Adobe Acrobat Professional (installed on all lab and college-owned computers). • A  crobat Pro is a more complete version of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program. • In Word, use Track Changes to make edits and comments on a paper. • Use less paper when you print by:  Printing double-sided. This is an easy way to cut your paper usage in half and save your print quota.  Printing multiple pages on one. Print readings and papers to review with two or more pages per sheet of paper.  Printing on scrap paper (one-sided documents). This is a great option when you don’t need a professional copy or final draft.  Reducing font size.  Reducing paragraph spacing. Try 1.5 spacing instead of double spacing.  Reducing document margins. Reducing margins increases the amount of text that can fit on the page and reduces the number of pages needed to print a document. • T  hough different version of Microsoft Word have different ways of changing margins, the setting is often found under: File > Page Setup or under Format > Document. • Go paperless in class. Talk to your professors about using Sakai to turn in assignments, with comments and feedback provided using the Microsoft Word Reviewing tool. • Share print-outs with classmates. • Use campus printers instead of buying your own. Maximizing use of Harvey Mudd’s printers saves you money, reduces energy costs (fewer printers left on), and reduces packaging, transportation costs and waste. • If you do have your own printer:  Opt for greener paper.  Refill your ink cartridge or purchase a remanufactured cartridge. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste, and toxic pollution, and can cost 20–60 percent less than buying new cartridges. 

Use vegetable-based inks. Vegetable-based inks substitute vegetable oils for petroleum. This significantly reduces the amount of harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) released during printing. See one option at nyba.com/profitsolutions/soyprint.

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PRINTING FOR LESS ITS: ITS charges per page printed, not per side. Printing double-sided cuts your costs in half! Duplicating Services: Duplicating gives a discount if you use paper with print on one side: 5 percent off for black-and-white printing and 33 percent off for color printing. Duplicating takes donations of paper printed on one side and in good condition (new, no staples or folds) to support this program.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - GREEN PAPER • Post-consumer recycled paper contains material recycled by consumers; pre-consumer contains mill scraps. • Processed chlorine-free (PCF) paper does not use chlorine—which releases dioxins or other organochlorides into waterways—for bleaching. • Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification verifies that paper is produced in a sustainable manner.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - FACTS ABOUT PAPER • One ream (500 sheets) uses 6 percent of a tree (6-8" diameter, 40 feet all.)5 • 42 percent of the industrial wood harvest is used to make paper.6 • Paper accounts for 25 percent of landfill waste.6 • Cutting U.S. paper use 10 percent would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.6 million tons.6

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Conservatree, www.conservatree.org Environmental Paper Network. “State of the Paper Industry,” 2007.

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DINING AND EATING Reducing Waste

• Take only what you can eat. If you want more, it’s just a short walk back for seconds. • Always use your green reusable to-go container and mug when you take food out. • Think twice before using disposable items. If you need them, take as few as possible. • Take as few napkins as possible or bring your own cloth napkin. • Stock your own reusable dining ware. Get a set of your own reusable silverware, a glass, etc. to keep in your room.

Food Choices

• Eat local, organic, humane and fair trade. These options reduce chemical inputs, transit and resource use, and improve local economies and the treatment of animals and workers. • Eat lower on the food chain. It reduces the amount of energy and resources that go into your diet. • Reduce consumption of animal products (e.g., meat, eggs, dairy). Try cutting meat out of your diet for just one to two days a week to start. • Pay attention to where foods are produced. Eating more local foods reduces the energy required for transportation. • Express your opinions. Want to see local, organic, fair trade and/or seasonal foods in the dining hall? Let dining staff know through comment cards and emails.

Sustainable Food Terms • Vegetarian – No meat.

• Vegan – No animal products, including meat, dairy, eggs, etc. • Pescatarian – No land meat, only fish.  ote: You do not have to fit into these categories to eat sustainably. N Simply be conscious of the food you are eating and you can reduce your impact. • Local food – Produced “locally,” although this can be defined in different ways (e.g., within 250 miles). Local food means fresher food, supporting farmers and fewer resources used for transportation. • Seasonal food – Food that is in its natural harvesting season. This means fresher and more local food since seasonal food often isn’t shipped from other countries. •

Organic food – Food that has been produced without the use of synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers that are dangerous to the environment, farm workers and the consumer.7 Also, since many fertilizers are petroleumbased, organic farming uses about one-third less fossil fuel than conventional farming.8

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION - FOOD WASTE An April 2016 campus waste audit determined that for one day’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner preparations alone, Hoch-Shanahan produced 188.7 pounds of food waste and compostable items. Your efforts to reduce food waste and consumption can bring that number down substantially!

GREEN BOXES AND GREEN CUPS Check out a Green Box or a Green Cup at the dining hall to reduce waste from take-out containers. It costs $6 to check out a box and $3 for a cup, though each charge is refunded when the item is returned at the end of the semester. Not only does it reduce waste, but it saves time because you can exchange your dirty box or cup for a clean one.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION - GHG EMISSIONS Food waste has contributed 3.3 billion tons of GHGs to the atmosphere.11

www.epa.gov/agriculture/torg.html www.ccof/org/pdf/factsheets/2011_Top_10_Reasons.pdf 9 www.certifiedhumane.org/index.php?page=overview 10 www.grinningplanet.com/2005/01-25/organic-coffee-shade-grown-fair-trade-coffee-article.htm 11 United Nations Environment Programme, 2015. “Food Waste: The Facts.” 7 8

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