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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 has been installed in the main campus (Building
68) to collect and recycle fixer from several of the Institute's largest
photographic processing centers. This unit diverts much of the Institute's
hazardous photographic fixer from the waste stream, and makes it a commodity
by reclaiming the silver. There are plans to install additional units in
more remote locations of the campus to capture all of the generated photographic
fixer waste.
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). Recently, more than 80 mercury-containing sphygmomanometers
(blood pressure cuffs) were replaced with mercury-free alternatives. There
are plans to renew an Institute mercury thermometer exchange program. There
are many other mercury-devices that also require special handling and disposal
procedures; click
here to find out more .
STORM WATER COLLECTION
Presently under construction, MIT's Ray and Maria Stata Center will boast a
vast underground storm water collection system that will collect surface
runoff and both minimize the discharge of contaminants, and regulate the
discharge flow to the City of Cambridge storm system. The cleaner roof storm
water will be 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)
The home page of the Environmentally
Preferable Products (EPP) Procurement Program of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
is located here .
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 ( site )
Contains Green Seal's environmental preferability standards for household cleaning
products, as well as industrial and institutional cleaners. Also, the Web
site includes their March 1998 Choose Green Report, which discusses general-purpose
cleaners and recommends Green Seal-approved products.
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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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