On a cold Tuesday afternoon this past November, while most HBS students were busy reading cases, working out in Shad or enjoying our daily naps, a few HBS Green Living Representatives were digging through bags of trash in an Allston facility. Yes, you read correctly - trash - smelly, slimy, completely uncensored garbage generated by all the HBS dorms, Spangler and Aldrich. Armored in surgical gowns, industrial dust masks and heavy-duty latex gloves, the reps were at least physically prepared for the task. But psychologically? Well, that was another matter. Let's just say that every bag was full of unmentionable surprises. But something was consistent in each bag of trash, whether it was from Chase, Morris or Spangler: each bag contained a substantial portion of items that are actually recyclable (i.e. paper, plastic, cardboard, glass, metals, etc.) In fact, 23% of the audited HBS trash is recyclable or reusable (by weight). In addition, 36% of the trash was organic material (i.e. food, napkins or paper towels).
Read the full Harbus article to learn what this all means in dollars and carbon dioxide emissions and how we can all do our part to reduce this percentage come the audit this spring.
