This week’s Quick Tip!

Two percent of the world’s supply of oil is turned into water bottles!

As few as 20 percent of water bottles are recycled, and by law they cannot be turned into more water bottles as they are considered contaminated by human contact. Try drinking tap water – out of a reusable bottle or pitcher. Buy a water filter if it makes you feel better.

Do you know what’s in bottled water?
The contents of at least 40% are just municipal tap water, which may or may not be treated or filtered. The exact source of the water or its chemical content is not required to be placed on the label!

Do you know who checks the quality of bottled water?
The EPA verifies the quality of tap water supplied by municipalities across America. The FDA oversees bottled water, but only from out-of-state sources. The FDA requires bottlers to test for contaminants, but considers bottled water at lower risk than other products, and inspects water-bottling plants less frequently than others. The FDA only inspects 1 in 1 million bottles of water sold in stores. Which do you think is safest to drink, bottled water or tap water?

Green Fisher Activities

We practice what we preach! Two years ago, we recycled 4500 pounds of unwanted phone books. Last year, we contacted Frontier to reduce the number of phone books they delivered to campus to less than 200 each of the white and yellow pages. We only had to recycle 130 pounds of unwanted books. We will continue this practice each fall, reducing the number of books in accordance with the lack of demand.

Other activities we sponsor or participate in are as follows:

RecycleMania

RecyleMania is a friendly competition among collegiate-level recycling programs across America. The challenge provides campus communities with a fun, proactive activity in waste reduction. For ten weeks, campuses compete to see which institution can collect the most recyclables.

January 18 – March 28, 2009

SJFC was one of 199 campuses registered for the 2009 competition. Other participating schools in New York State included: Hobart and William Smith Colleges, University of Rochester, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, and SUNY College at Buffalo, plus 9 more.

January 27 – April 5, 2008

In our first year of participation, we finished 46 out of 180 schools. Twelve other schools in New York State participated in the same competition. We were ranked sixth of those twelve; RIT was fourth!

22.5 pounds of waste per person was recycled during the competition! Next year we hope to do even better.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Think twice before throwing “trash” into a garbage bin. It is quite possible that all or part of that item is recyclable. Fisher’s Recycling Program includes a lot more items than your blue bin at home!

Earth Day

April 15, 2009

We had fewer people come out to help this year, but a lot was still accomplished on the crisp, sunny day. The School of Pharmacy's Service Day the previous week gave us a great boost, and our volunteers picked up where they left off mulching around the classroom buildings and residence halls.

We also organized the planting of eight Crimson Maple trees to symbolize each value in the Fisher Creed. A variety of departments and organizations sponsored these trees. The Recycling and Sustainability Committee supported the value we felt best matches our mission: Responsibility. President Bain and Director of Campus Ministry, Fr. Lanzalaco, spoke about the values of St. John Fisher College and blessed the trees, respectively. Each donor completed the ceremony by placing soil over the roots of their tree.

April 15, 2008

Over 50 people came out to work on a glorious sunny day! Twenty trees were planted to replace damaged, dying ones near Murray and Keough Halls. Six truckloads of mulch were spread around campus.

Recycling Bins for Residence Hall Rooms

Fall 2008

As part of Fisher’s new recycling initiatives, recycling bins were made available in the Spring of 2008 to any interested residents through a pilot program, which was a great success. Recycling bins will be added to all residence hall rooms for the Fall 2008 semester.

Instead of walking down the hall each time you have a recyclable item, you can collect them in your bin and make just one trip to the nearest lounge. These bins are Fisher property and should remain in rooms after checkouts.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Recycling Centers are located on every floor of each residence halls. They are also located in classroom buildings. We want to hear from you about where else on campus Recycling Centers are needed. Your feedback is very important to us. Please contact us at recycle@sjfc.edu with your input. The more convenient it is to recycle, the more waste will be recycled.

Please contact Lynn Wernert, Office Manager of Facilities, for more information.

Student Involvement:

Your SJFC Recycling and Sustainability Committee is comprised of various faculty and staff representatives from several departments here on campus. We also have student members. Our committee is now calling for student involvement with our continuing efforts. If you are enthusiastic about recycling, or interested in the environment, please contact the Recycling and Sustainability Committee at recycle@sjfc.edu. Join our Committee, or start your own Club. We look forward to hearing from you!