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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 Help us locate old, outdated signs in need of a modern makeover!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.

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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

September

24

Tuesday
5:30 pm-7:00 pm GMT+0000

Thinking with Plants and Fungi: “The Quest for the Plant Script, a Talk by Author Sumana Roy

Why have our writers, artists, thinkers, and scholars been compelled to turn their attention towards the ‘plant script’ in the last one hundred years? Beginning from Jagadish Chandra Bose’s “torulipi”—the handwriting of plants or the plant script through which he hoped plants would write their autobiography—and moving through Rabindranath Tagore’s songs about the language of flowers; to poets writing about the syntax of the falling of leaves to artists trying to coax a vocabulary out of plants or creating a “tree alphabet,” Sumana Roy shall speak about the quest for the plant script, its codes, its compulsions, and its intimate histories.

September

19

Thursday
6:00 pm-8:00 pm GMT+0000

Careers in Climate Action Speaker Series: Tom Chappell, MTS ‘91, Co-Founder Tom’s of Maine and Ramblers Way

Join us on September 19th, to hear from Tom Chappell, MTS’ 91, Co-Founder of Tom’s of Maine and author of The Soul of a Business and Managing Upside Down, reflect on insights from his career, education, and current work, from founding and building two successfully socially-responsible and sustainable American brands to creating a values–centered business practicum to guide the next generation of socially responsible business leaders.

September

18

Wednesday
11:00 am-12:00 pm GMT+0000

Open to the Public

Harvard Forest Seminars: Tick talk: the most dangerous animal in the United States due to environmental change

Harvard Forest’s seminar series features cutting-edge research in ecology, land-use history, and climatic change, and its applications to conservation biology, environmental policy, forestry, and management of terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems. Seminars occur during the fall and spring on Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time unless otherwise noted.

December

03

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

Open to Harvard Community

Freecycle at Smith Campus Center

freecycle
Harvard Real Estate
Harvard Waste and Recycling
Recycling
waste and recycling

Our fall semester Freecycle dates are official: Tuesday, Oct. 15 and Tuesday, Dec. 3! Bring your reusable goods and browse items that others have brought. This popular event promotes reuse and functions like a yard sale, except everything is free.

October

15

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

Open to Harvard Community

Freecycle at Smith Campus Center

freecycle
Harvard Real Estate
Harvard Waste and Recycling
Recycling
waste and recycling
October

13

Sunday
8:00 am-5:00 pm GMT+0000

Open to Harvard Community

Apply by Oct. 13: Student Sustainability Grant

Student Grants
Students
September

29

Sunday
All-day

Student Event

Apply by Sept. 29: HGSE Student Sustainability Educator

Harvard Graduate School of Education
HGSE
Student Sustainability Educator
Students

If you are an HGSE graduate student looking to lead your own campus sustainability project, you’re in the right place. Starting August 25th, you can apply to become the 2024-25 HGSE Student Sustainability Educator.