Environmental Programs Task Force (EPTF) issues annual report.

Every year EPTF publishes the “EPTF Annual Report” which is a year in review of the major environmental accomplishments throughout the year. Click here to view the EPTF Annual Report (PDF).

The EPTF is a collaborative effort of faculty, staff, and students from different departments working on ways to make campus operations more environmentally friendly.

Members come from the Campus Activities Complex, Copy Technology Centers, Publishing Services Bureau, Department of Facilities, and the Executive Vice-President's Office (to name just a few departments), as well as SAVE (Share a Vital Earth), Students for Global Sustainability (SfGS), and Prof. Jeff Steinfeld's Freshman Seminars.

One of the EPTF's early accomplishments was the expansion of the campus recycling program. This began with just white paper and a limited collection of other recyclables. Now it includes all types of paper, cardboard, magazines and newspapers, glass bottles, aluminum cans, and plastics 1 - 7.

The EPTF also initiated a food composting program that has composted hundreds of tons of discarded food since implementation and has become a leader in Massachusetts. . It also started a yard waste recycling program and a construction and demolition (C&D) debris recycling and reuse program. Stringent specifications for recycling C&D debris, which have become the standard used by the Department of Facilities in all capital projects, have facilitated the recycling and reuse of several thousand tons of materials

EPTF's "green goods" procurement program increased the use of office products made from recycled content and has also encouraged MIT’s Executive Vice President to formally direct all departments reporting to the Office of the Executive Vice President to “buy recycled” whenever possible.

EPTF also helped the Procurement Department and Copy Technology Centers convert to high-recycled content paper. In just 11 months, copiers went from using less than 1% recycled paper to 100%.

Any member of the MIT community may join the EPTF.

Contact us at EPTF@mit.edu.