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Pollution Prevention
As part of its commitment to excellence in environmental, health,
and safety stewardship on our campus, in the larger community of
which we are a part, and globally, MIT is committed to policies
and practices that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials
whenever possible. This commitment is, in part, intended to minimize
the generation of pollutants and waste, and reduce MIT's overall
impact on the environment.
Several programs have been put in place to forward this commitment:
- Silver
recovery
- Mercury
equipment exchange
- Storm
water collection
- Green
building design
SILVER RECOVERY
A central silver recovery unit, installed in the main campus (Building
68), collects and recycles fixer from the Institute's photographic
processing centers. This unit diverts all of the Institute's hazardous
photographic fixer from the waste stream, and makes it a commodity
by reclaiming the silver.
MERCURY EQUIPMENT EXCHANGE
There is a continuing effort to remove mercury-containing devices
from the Institute (including, but not limited to thermometers,
sphygmomanometers, switches, and barometers). On-going initiatives
include replacing mercury-containing sphygmomanometers (blood pressure
cuffs) and thermometers used in labs with mercury-free alternatives.
Drop off your mercury thermometers to VWR in exchange for a mercury-free alternative.
There are many other mercury-devices that also require special handling and disposal
procedures; such as, compact fluorescent light bulbs, thermostats, high intensity
discharge lamps, pressure gauges, flow meters and float switches to name a few. click
here to find out more .
STORM WATER COLLECTION
MIT's Ray and Maria Stata Center is home to a vast underground storm water collection
system that collects surface runoff in order to minimize the discharge of contaminants
while regulating the discharge flow to the City of Cambridge storm system. The
cleaner roof storm water is also collected and reused for flushing water.
GREEN BUILDING DESIGN
New buildings and renovations across the Institute are being outfitted
with resource saving devices such as low flow toilets and showers
and "green" lighting
fixtures. For information on new building design see the MIT
Evolving Campus web site.
back to top Green Goods Purchasing To
purchase environmentally preferred products contact the Department
of Procurement for information and assistance.
MIT currently has made many strides to incorporating an Institutes
wide environmentally preferable products (EPP) purchasing program,
including a purchasing policy issued by the Executive Vice President
that states "To continue MIT's concerted
efforts toward a sustainable future, and to save dollars in both
purchasing and handling goods, purchase recycled products whenever
possible."
In addition, there are several isolated initiatives at MIT. These include the
office products and paper purchasing initiatives endorsed by the Department
of Procurement and supported by several other departments. The Department
of Facilities also purchases all recycled content paper towels and toilet
paper and many other items made from recycled content. These programs continue
to expand and may soon include other items.
Some informational Web Sites and resources are available listed below:
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Operational Services Division
(Purchasing Office) - Environmentally
Preferable Products (EPP) Procurement Program .
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmentally
Preferable Purchasing (EPP)
Contains a description of EPP guiding principles, links to many EPP resources,
and case studies of successful programs. Several guides available on the program
Web site cover topics such as:
- Greening Your Purchase of Cleaning Products
- Greening Your Purchase of Electronics
- Greening Your Purchase of Carpet
- Greening Your Purchase of Copiers
- Greening Your Purchase of Food Service-ware
- Greening Your Meetings and Conferences
EPA's EPP
Database
Contains a comprehensive collection of environmental information
on products and services, including contract language, voluntary
standards and guidelines, and product environmental attributes.
The database is searchable by product.
Green Seal
Contains Green Seal's environmental preferability standards for household cleaning
products, as well as industrial and institutional cleaners.
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Reducing air emissions Your
choice on how to commute to MIT is an important strategy to reduce
auto emissions and improve air quality. MIT encourages everyone
to use alternative forms of transportation rather than driving
alone in a car to get to MIT. Below are some resources available
at MIT and Massachusetts to figure out the most efficient way to
commute.
The MIT Parking and Transportation Office offers a wide variety
of options for the MIT community to commute. MIT encourages the
community to carpool, use public transportation, bike, and walk
when traveling to work or learn in Cambridge or MIT. A full listing
of programs and information on the various options available go
to the Parking and Transportation
web site.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Web Site has schedules,
maps, transit updates, and other information that will help you with your commute
to MIT. It is located here .
MassRIDES, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's statewide travel
options program, provides assistance to commuters for alternative modes of transportation.
For more information go to their Web Site at http://www.commute.com/ or
call 1-888-4COMMUTE.
MassBike, the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition is the statewide bicycling advocacy
organization and has information, maps, events, and other bicycle commuter information available
here .
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