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Join the REP Waste Campaign: Get Recycling Savvy and Play Our Sorting Game

Resource Efficiency Program (REP)

The REP Waste Campaign runs from: October 16-29, 2023.

Sorting like a pro is a journey—join the adventure with us!

Ready to boost your recycling IQ, or are you feeling like a waste whiz already? Take our quiz on those pesky common contaminants and show our waste team what Harvard students know!

*For best visibility on mobile, turn your phone horizontally.

Click to see the answer key here!

For more information on why items are categorized this way: RecycleSmart MA has amazing FAQ’s and Resources.

Waste Regulations

Kris Snibbe/Harvard News Office

Ever wondered if we’re being eco-outlaws by accident? Cambridge and Massachusetts have regulations about what belongs in the recycling bin, and what is banned from the trash.

No worries, we all make mistakes and we’re on this journey together to stay on the green side of the law!

The City of Cambridge:

“Recycling is mandatory in Cambridge; items on the curbside recycling list are banned from disposal as trash in Massachusetts.”

Massachusetts Waste Ban Items:

  • Recyclable Paper – ALL paper, cardboard, and paperboard products (does NOT include tissues, paper towels, plates, or cups)
  • Glass bottles and jars
  • Metal beverage and food containers
  • Plastic bottles, jars, jugs, and tubs
  • Textiles – clothing, footwear, linens
  • Food waste from institutions that generate more than ½ ton per week
  • Leaves and yard waste
  • Scrap metal – such as appliances
  • Mattresses
  • CRTs – cathode ray tubes
  • Gypsum wallboard
  • Lead Acid batteries
  • Whole tires
  • Wood waste
  • Asphalt pavement, Brick, Concrete

Waste Management Hierarchy

Let’s work together to prevent waste in the first place!

Graphic that prioritizes waste hierarchy: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Rot, Recycle.
When making decisions about managing our waste, prioritize Rethinking and Reducing waste, recycling and composting is a last resort. Source: https://recyclesmartma.org/2023/09/reframing-the-waste-hierarchy/

Waste Signage Scavenger Hunt

Calling all waste signage sleuths! Use your keen eye by participating in our Waste Signage Scavenger Hunt. Help us locate old, outdated signs in need of a modern makeover!

 

All are welcome to participate; simply snap a picture and upload it to our quick google form. Undergraduates who submit a form will earn points towards the Green Cup Competition for their House or Dorm!

Yellow icon of a magnifying glass and person putting trash in a bin.

featured

Zero Waste

At Harvard, we aim to sustainably manage all waste streams—including plastics, recyclables, and organics, as well as construction, demolition, and hazardous waste—while prioritizing waste prevention and reduction.

Learn More
Compost sign with symbols and text for food, compostable containers, and other items.

Sustainability at Harvard

Explore Upcoming Events

November

06

Thursday
12:00 pm-5:00 pm GMT+0000

15th Veronica Rudge Green Prize: “Urban Design as a Development Strategy” Workshops

Established in 1986, the biennial Green Prize recognizes projects that make an exemplary contribution to the public realm of a city, improve the quality of life in that context, and demonstrate a humane and worthwhile direction for the design of urban environments. Eligible projects must include more than one building or open space constructed in the last 10 years.

The 15th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design has been awarded to the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) campus in Bugesera, Rwanda. With this award, the GSD acknowledges excellence in not just design but also process. Demonstrating a commitment to experimentation, the RICA project sets a new standard for evaluating innovation in the field of urban design. The project was realized through constant negotiation between city officials, motivated designers, and mobilized citizens. This process now serves as a model to educate other cities about implementation pathways. MASS led the master planning, architecture, landscape, engineering, furniture design and fabrication, and construction for the project.

November

05

Wednesday
6:30 pm-8:00 pm GMT+0000

15th Veronica Rudge Green Prize: “Urban Design as a Development Strategy” Reception

Established in 1986, the biennial Green Prize recognizes projects that make an exemplary contribution to the public realm of a city, improve the quality of life in that context, and demonstrate a humane and worthwhile direction for the design of urban environments. Eligible projects must include more than one building or open space constructed in the last 10 years.

The 15th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design has been awarded to the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) campus in Bugesera, Rwanda. With this award, the GSD acknowledges excellence in not just design but also process. Demonstrating a commitment to experimentation, the RICA project sets a new standard for evaluating innovation in the field of urban design. The project was realized through constant negotiation between city officials, motivated designers, and mobilized citizens. This process now serves as a model to educate other cities about implementation pathways. MASS led the master planning, architecture, landscape, engineering, furniture design and fabrication, and construction for the project.

October

15

Wednesday
4:30 pm-6:00 pm GMT+0000

Climate Crossroads: Debating Energy’s Next Frontier with Patrick Pouyanné

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, joins Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim for a discussion about the future of energy. At a pivotal moment in the global energy transition, Pouyanné will reflect on TotalEnergies’ transformation into a multi energy company, the complex trade-offs between decarbonization, energy affordability, energy security, and investor expectations, and the company’s views on the complex and evolving role of climate and energy policy. The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A.

The Salata Institute’s speaker series, Climate Crossroads: Debating Energy’s Next Frontier, brings leading voices to Harvard University to confront the intertwined challenges of climate change and the global energy transition. The Institute is guided by the conviction that durable progress is forged through rigorous, intellectually honest dialogue. By openly presenting competing ideas—including those that provoke vigorous disagreement—the Institute intends to cultivate deeper understanding, illuminate pragmatic pathways, and inspire collaboration.

October

09

Thursday
7:00 pm-8:30 pm GMT+0000

Protecting America’s Public Lands

Join Patagonia Cambridge for an event focused on recent and ongoing threats to public lands and how to defend against them, led by the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic at Harvard University.

One third of the United States is publicly owned. This figure includes National Forests and Parks and arid lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. These lands are under multiple threats and so are the lifeways of Native peoples who have lived on these lands for time immemorial. Learn about some of these threats and issues from Harvard Law students working with the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic.

The student volunteers will be presenting on a variety of public land law topics, including the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule, oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and subsistence fishing in Alaska.

All are welcome! Come mingle, have food and drink, and learn about public lands issues!

October

14

Tuesday
5:00 pm-7:00 pm GMT+0000

Climate Connection Event: The Salata Institute Climate Collaboration Grant Session 2

Student groups interested in applying to the Salata Institute’s Climate Collaboration Grant Program should have members attend one or both of the Climate Connection Events that will be hosted as part of the program. Student leaders will have the opportunity to present speed pitches about their organization, with the purpose of sparking connection and inspiring collaboration with others in the room. The presentations will be followed by a networking hour. Dinner will be provided.

October

14

Tuesday
2:30 pm-3:30 pm GMT+0000

Open to Harvard Community

Recycling Webinar + AMA 

Recycling
Zero Waste
Zero Waste Month

Confused by what goes in which bin? Join Harvard staff from Recycling & Waste and Environmental Health & Safety for a fun webinar on October 14 at 2:30 pm, where we’ll cover the dos and don’ts of recycling and composting, new waste programs on campus, and why your pizza box is recyclable after all. Stick around for an Ask Me Anything session where we’ll answer your waste-related questions live!

October

28

Tuesday
11:00 am-2:00 pm GMT+0000

Freecycle at HGSE Gutman Cafe

freecycle
Zero Waste

Stop by the Gutman Cafe for a Freecycle event! Drop off reusable goods you no longer need, and browse a fantastic selection of items brought by others. Find some secondhand items to gift this year. Popular items include books, clothes, and working household goods. Open to Harvard-ID holders only, and no donation is necessary to shop.