This is the first posting of ECE FARQ (Frequently Asked Recycling Questions) It is intended to guide you through the maze of recycling questions that newcomers usually face when arriving. It will be posted periodically throughout the year, but don't delay in reading it now. Send questions or comments to recycle@ece Table of Contents ----------------- ******************************** *** Help With Specific Items *** ******************************** 0) When/Where can I recycle when I'm in ? 1) What is ECE WHITE /HIGH QUALITY PAPER? 2) Where do I throw ECE WHITE /HIGH QUALITY PAPER ? 3) What is ECE MIXED/LOW QUALITY PAPER ? 4) Where do I throw ECE MIXED/LOW QUALITY PAPER ? 5) What type of paper can I *NOT* recycle in ECE? 6) Where do I throw my CAN? 7) What kind of BOTTLE can I recycle? 8) Where do I throw my BOTTLES on campus? 9) Where do I throw my CARDBOARD? 10) Where do I throw my BROKEN GLASS? 11) What can I do with used MOTOR OIL? 12) What can I do with my old NEWSPAPER or MAGAZINES? 13) What can I do with my old PHONE BOOK? 14) What are the funny numbers on PLASTIC? ********************************************************** *** General Questions and Facts to amuse your friends **** ********************************************************** 15) Can I recycle windowed envelopes? 16) What's a BROWN/GOLDEN envelope? 17) Are paper clips and staples allowedin High Quality Paper? 18) Where should I throw colored (copier quality) paper? 19) Is High Quality paper with colored ink still High Quality? 20) Can I put High Quality paper into the Low Quality bins? 21) Can I recycle old tech reports? 22) How much White Paper does ECE use per year? 23) Who collects the ECE paper and where does it go? 24) Who collects the ECE cans? 25) What happens to my partially full soda can when I recycle it? 26) Why is it so difficult to find a place to recycle motor oil? 27) How do I start a compost heap? 28) Is my Nobel-Prize-Winning paper getting stolen by the recycler? 29) Can I bring in all my paper from home to recycle? 30) Why are there still plastic rings on six packs? 31) What is green bar paper? ************************************ *** Other Places for Information *** ************************************ 32) Who is in charge of campus recycling? 33) Who can I contact about City Recycling? 34) What is G.R.I.P.? 35) What is D.E.R.? 36) What newsgroups should I read? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************** *** Help With Specific Items *** ******************************** 0) When/Where can I recycle when I'm in ? Item ECE On Campus Curbside Somewhere local ----------------------------------------------------------------------- White Paper Always By Department Never ? Mixed Paper Always By Department Never ? Aluminum Cans Always Public Cont Weekly Yes Glass Bottles Never Public Cont Weekly Yes Cardboard Daily By Department Never Yes Glass, Broken Never Never Never ? Motor Oil Never Occasionally Never Yes Newspaper Never Never Weekly Yes Phone Books Never BiYearly Never BiYearly Plastics (Some)Never Never Weekly Yes Antifreeze Never Occasionally Never Yes Tin Cans Never Never Never Yes Magazines Never Never Never Yes 1) What is ECE WHITE /HIGH QUALITY PAPER? WHITE paper from copiers and laser-printers with any color ink. Bond stationary with any color ink. 2) Where do I throw ECE WHITE /HIGH QUALITY PAPER ? Each office should have a box into which all high quality paper is placed. When the box is full, contact your floor recycle representative (finger recycle@ece to find out who) and he or she will take your box and replace it with an empty one! The type of box is arbitrary. If you need one, contact recycle@ece. 3) What is ECE MIXED/LOW QUALITY PAPER ? Mixed / Low Quality Paper is most of the day to day paper which is not High Quality. Here is a mostly complete list. Colored Copier/Laser-Printer Paper White or colored envelopes with or without plastic windows Hamermill Paper wrappers Non-glossy booklets and manuals Tech Reports (remove covers) FAX/telex copy paper Greeting cards Adding machine tape NCR/Carbonless forms Post-it notes/envelopes Soft-covered books w/white pages (Remove cover) Tab/time cards Manilla Folders (but please re-use!) Finger recycle@ece for a completely up-to-date list. Although you can place HIGH QUALITY paper into the LOW QUALITY bins, please don't. See question #24 below for the reason. 4) Where do I throw ECE MIXED/LOW QUALITY PAPER ? In each hallway in ECE, there is a square blue recycling container marked "Mixed Paper" with an imformational sign on it. This gets emptied weekly. Place all mixed paper in it. Some sophisticated offices have a small square blue bin into which mixed paper is placed. These are NOT emptied by the building staff, so you'll have to empty these yourself whenever they overflow onto your floor. 5) What type of paper can I *NOT* recycle in ECE? The following can *not* be recycled in either the HIGH or LOW QUALITY containers. Check below for places around the city where you can recycle it. Glossy Materials Magazines Newspapers Carbon Paper Lunch Bags Pizza Boxes Paper with any food waste on it Brown/Golden Envelopes Phone Books 6) Where do I throw my CAN? In all campus buildings including ECE, there are covered circular blue containers with circular openings. EMPTY your can and throw it in this container. There are also specially designed outdoor containers scattered around campus near most trash containers. The recycle containers are notable for the speciallly designed top with three marked openings for: trash, cans, and bottles. Most cans are now all aluminum, but even bi-metal (some steel) cans are acceptable. TIN cans are not acceptable. If you feel especially noble, crush your can before placing in the bin. The bins get emptied weekly and during heavy usage times they sometimes overflow. Crushing your can keeps you fit and saves space, too. 7) What kind of BOTTLES and GLASS can I recycle? Brown, Clear and Green Glass. Wash. Remove lids and metal rings. Color separate. Labels may remain. These glass items can NOT be recycled: light bulbs pyrex windows mirrors cookware broken glass plates ceramics 8) Where do I throw my BOTTLES on campus? There are specially designed outdoor containers scattered around campus near most trash containers. The recycle containers are notable for the speciallly designed top with three marked openings for: trash, cans, and bottles. You can probably find the right opening if the sun's out. For large drop offs, there are many locations around campus: Physical Plant Building (by the railroad tracks) Hamerschlag Resident Hall (under the building by the driveway) Fraternity Quadrangle (by the buggy garages) Morewood Gardens (by the driveway behind Child Care) Behind Skibo (to the right of the loading dock) Donner Hall (behind the building) Porter/Baker Hall (out by the dumpsters near Frew St) Mellon Institute (by the loading dock) NO LAB GLASS PLEASE!! The School of Computer Science runs an independent program to collect SCS glass in Wean Hall. It is not a public program, but if you sneak a bottle in there and run fast, you won't get accosted. 9) Where do I throw my CARDBOARD? Take out packing material. Flatten. You do not have to remove staples, tape or plastic labels. Place cardboard by any trash container in ECE. It will be picked up and dealt with. Hopefully, it will even get crushed and recycled. Alternatively, you can place your cardboard behind Physical Plant. There is also a dropoff behind Mellon Institute. Kinds of carboard you CAN'T recycle: fiber board paper boxes tablet backs pizza boxes paper board If you have cardboard at home you wish to recycle, take it to: American Recycling 391-3100 Strip District 10) Where do I throw my BROKEN GLASS? Throw it in the trash. It can't be recycled. Don't hurt youself. 11) What can I do with used MOTOR OIL? Call D.E.R's OIL-HOTLINE 1-800-346-4242. (see below.) 12) What can I do with my old NEWSPAPER or MAGAZINES? Although NEWPAPER can NOT be recycled on campus, you can try the following places: CURBSIDE. If your neighborhood has curbside recycling, you can bundle your newpaper in a separate blue Giant Eagle bag for pick up. Colored and Black and White. No glossy. COMMERCIAL. If they are accepting it, you can take your Black and White, unbundled newprint to: Atlas Recycling 431-5329 24th and Wharton Streets South Side M-F 7:00 AM - 4:30 PM FARM. Some farms in the area use old newpaper for bedding. You might try: T & K Farm on Rt. 66 Phone: 836-5719. T & K is on the east side of Route 66, 4.8 miles south of Route 22 and 2.8 miles north of Courthouse Square in Greensburg. There's a big sign in front by the driveway. For MAGAZINES, your best bet is an insulation maker (!): Penn Pro Insulation 222-6450 Washington, PA Alternatively, you can take MAGAZINES to the Oakland Carnegie Library (Andrew's Alcove) between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM and volunteers will take them and then resell them for a few cents to benefit the library. 13) What can I do with my old PHONE BOOK? Phone books are not generally accepted for recycling in either the city or at CMU. However, when new phone books are delivered, you can drop off old phone books at some sights around CMU. Watch the bboards for an annoucement. Reputedly, the phone company will begin to collect old phone books when they deliver new ones. 14) What are the funny numbers on PLASTIC? First of all, CMU does not recycle plastic, but the city does accept some in its CURBSIDE program. How do you know what's okay and what's not? On the container (bottom), look for a triangle with a number in the middle of it. The number identifies the type of plastic. These plastics are accepted by the city: Number Type Examples 1 (PET) Polyethylene Terephthalate soda containers 2 (HDPE) High Density Polyethylene milk,water jugs Numbers 3 - 8 are NOT recyclable in the city: 3 Vinyl 4 Low-Density Polyethylene 5 Polypropylene 6 PolyStyrene 7 Other Also try: Polymer Grinding and Recycling, 228-6628 Washingont, PA *********************************************************** *** General Questions and Facts to amuse your friends ***** *********************************************************** 15) Can I recycle windowed envelopes? Yep. They are Low Quality. 16) What's a BROWN/GOLDEN envelope? BROWN/GOLDEN envelopes are NOT recyclable. These are the golden envelopes we are sending/receiving our Campus Mail in. The paper is a Kraft type of paper. This is NOT to be recycled in our program. This paper contains a high amount of wood fibers which need special processing. There's a catch though - they are made from recycled materials which is a good thing. Please don't confuse this paper with manilla folders: they are okay to recycle (but you should reuse them.) 17) Are paper clips and staples allowed in High Quality Paper? A small amount of contaminating metal is acceptable in High Quality paper. Staples are okay. Please reuse paper clips. 18) Where should I throw colored (copier quality) paper? Colored paper from copiers or laser printers should go in the Low Quality paper bins. 19) Is High Quality paper with colored ink still High Quality? Yes. However, a large amount of highlighter disqualifies high quality paper; you should put it into the low quality bin. In case you're tempted to use CRAYONS to impresss your advisor, go ahead. High Quality paper with crayon is still High Quality. 20) Can I put High Quality paper into the Low Quality bins? Keep High Quality paper separate from the mixed office paper WHEN POSSIBLE. There is a small payback for white paper (there is none for mixed paper) and this will help our recycling effort and save money. 21) Can I recycle old tech reports? Yep. Just removed the covers and you can recycle them in the High Quality Bin. 22) How much White Paper does ECE use per year? At last approximate count, ECE recycles over 4 tons of High Quality Paper per year. Besides recycling, reduction should be of primary concern. Use print previewing before printing a document and use double sided output when possible. 23) Who collects the ECE paper and where does it go? High Quality paper is collected by ECE floor representatives and placed in a 98 gallon container which is emptied weekly by a universtiy recycling worker. It then goes to the a recycling company where it is shredded, bleached and made into something useful. 24) Who collects the ECE cans? The can recycling containers are emptied weekly by a university recycling worker. However, questions or comments about can recycling can be directed to recycle@ece. PLEASE CRUSH YOU CANS before recycling. 25) What happens to my partially full soda can when I recycle it? On several occasions a river of goo has threatened to take over hallways in ECE. Please avoid this sticky situation by fully emptying your soda/pop can into a sink or other drain BEFORE crushing and recycling. 26) Why is it so difficult to find a place to recycle motor oil? Many previous oil recycling drop offs have dried up because they were receiving oil contaminated with such unfriendly substances as antifreeze. Treat your recycler right and only give him/her good old dirty motor oil. 27) How do I start a compost heap? Contact GRIP (Group for Recycling in Pittsburgh, number below) and they will send you easy to understand, free literature on composting in your own backyard. 28) Is my Nobel-Prize-Winning research getting stolen by the recycler? No 29) Can I bring in all my paper from home to recycle? Although it seems like a responsible way to dispose of your junk mail, it actually costs the university to dispose of your Low Quality paper and so they ask you not to overburden the already delicate balance. Instead, why not call the city and ask them what they're doing about recycling Low Quality Paper at curbside. 30) Why are there still plastic rings on six packs? The environmentally hazardous rings on six packs are baffling. Every year they cause injury and death to sea animals which confuse them with food and choke or strangle themselves with these devices. Furthermore, they're not generally recyclable. Call the CEO of Coke or Pepsi and tell them not to make the rings. If you do get plastic rings on your soda, be sure to cut through each ring before disposing so they are less of a threat to wildlife. 31) What is green bar paper? This antiquated paper we all associate with Computer Science of the 70's is actually a superior high quality paper with especially long fibers that recycles especially well. If you use this paper, it should be kept separate from even the High Quality Paper and you should contact the Universtity Recycling Coordinator (see below) to get rid of it. **************************************** ***** Other Places for Information ***** **************************************** 32) Who is in charge of campus recycling? Campus Recycling is run under the auspisces of Environmental Health and Safety. They have a position dedicated to recycling and it is currently held by: Barbara Kviz bk11+@andrew.cmu.edu or Recycling@andrew.cmu.edu x7858 Physical Plant Building Barb is extremely helpful and can answer most any question that we in ECE can't. 33) Who can I contact about City Recycling? Talk to the Mayor's Office. 34) What is G.R.I.P.? G.R.I.P. is the Group for Recycling in Pittsburgh. They can provide information on recyclers in pittsburgh, how to compost, how to educate others about recycling, provide speakers for events, and much more. Write or call them at: G.R.I.P P.O. Box 4806 Pittsburgh, PA 15206 (412) 661 - 4447 Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you want membership information. 35) What is D.E.R.? The Department of Environemental Resources can provide information on recycling in your area. For example, to find a place to recycle your oil call the Oil Hotline provided by D.E.R at: OIL-HOTLINE: (800) 346 - 4242 36) What newsgroups should I read? To keep informed about recycling and the environment be sure to subscribe to: cmu.misc.environmental-health-and-safety sci.environment talk.environment There is also an environmental mailing list maintained on campus which extracts articles from pertinent places and distributes them. It also provides timely politcal advice on environmental issues (like what Bills are currently under consideration in Congress.) Subscribe by mailing to: Bruce.Horn@n3.sp.cs.cmu.edu