Committees Wellesley Recycling focuses mainly on recycling issues in the academic buildings; works closely with Jim Ralli, who picks up paper from the academic buildings on Saturdays and takes them to the Wellesley Recycling and Disposal Facility; and helps to plan recycling at Tanner and Ruhlman Conferences. Paper Use works with Tom Kane, Wellesley's purchasing manager, to increase the use of recycled paper on campus; encourages public clusters and other sources of mass printing to reduce overall paper usage; and raises awareness on how to save paper and reduce unnecessary printing. Energy works to reduce energy usage on campus; encourages the community to put computers to sleep (or turn them off), to turn down their heaters and turn off their lights when not in use; and tries to increase the usage of fluorescent light bulbs. Dining Hall Issues works with Linda Davey, Operations Manager for Wellesley College Dining Services, to make dining halls more environmentally friendly; tries to get more organic and locally grown food; and discusses alternatives to disposable dishware and utensils. Institutional Accountability tries to incorporate environmental consciousness into members of the community through environmental policies; urges the administration to take responsibility for recycling; and works to get Wellesley to adopt an Environmental Mission Statement. Recycling Program The recycling program at Wellesley consists of a subgroup of people who take care of recycling in the residence halls. Every year, each residence hall elects up to two recycling representatives who are responsible for educating the community about recycling, keeping track of the recycling bins, and collecting recyclables twice a week and setting them out for pickup. A student recycling coordinator is also elected in order to oversee and train the recycling representatives at the beginning of the year. Along with overseeing the recycling reps, she is also responsible for renting student vans (granted by the Community Service Department) and setting up a schedule of drivers and volunteers who collect recyclables (consisting of mostly cans and bottles set out by the recycling representatives every Friday night) and take them to the Wellesley Recycling and Disposal Facility on Saturday mornings. Conferences WEED worked with planning committees for the Tanner and Ruhlman Conferences as well as custodial staff to make the events greener. We had lots of student, staff, and faculty volunteers during the day of the conferences who helped attendees to sort and recycle their food/drink packaging. WEED members who participated were very well received at the last few conferences, so look for us at the next Tanner or Ruhlman conference!

Wellesley Energy and Environmental Defense
Created by: Erin Usmen '06 and Anita Yip '07
Date Created: April 27, 2004
Last Modified: May 5, 2004