Make Your Own Grocery Tote

The Dover Public Library is sponsoring a workshop to teach sewing novices how to make an eco-friendly tote using repurposed fabric. The workshop, which will be held on Nov. 12, is free and open to everyone but registration is required. Sewing machines and fabric will be provided but you could also bring your own. For details and registration information, see this article in Foster’s. By the way, did you know you save $.05 on your grocery bill for every fabric bag you use at Hannaford? – Colleen

Uh-oh!

In an effort to green my office, I was changing the lightbulbs in my lamps to CFLs and I BROKE ONE! Fortunately, it was a pretty clean break and the pieces landed on my cabinet where they were easily cleanup up with a damp paper towel. However, it was a good ten minutes before I read that I should have immediately ventilated the room (luckily my window was already open) and vacated for 15 minutes. Since we’ll be using more and more of these bulbs in our offices and homes, and breakage is bound to happen, here’s some CFL information from the EPA…

What should I do if I break a bulb

The risks to you and your family from breaking a CFL are small. The amount of mercury in a CFL is very small, about five milligrams, or the size of the tip of a ball point pen. In comparison, older thermometers contain about 500 milligrams of mercury. It would take 100 CFLs to equal the amount of mercury in a single thermometer.

The mercury in a CFL is needed to help turn the electric current into white light you get from the bulb. Once turned on, a very small amount of the mercury in the CFL becomes a vapor. If a CFL bulb breaks, a small amount of the mercury vapor will be released in the air. Unlike the elemental mercury found in fever thermometers, which are the shiny beads of liquid mercury, you will probably not see any mercury with the naked eye if you break a CFL bulb. The white powder you see is from the phosphorus coating on the inside of the CFL.

So if you break a bulb, you’re at little risk for significant mercury exposure. It is important, though, to carefully clean up and dispose of a broken CFL to avoid spreading around the phosphorus powder, glass and any remaining mercury. 

Here are U.S. EPA’s guidelines for cleaning up a broken CFL:

1. Open a window and leave the room (restrict access) for at least 15 minutes. If you have fans, place the fans in the windows and blow the air out of the room. Note: If the room has no windows, open all doors to the room and windows outside the room and use fans to move the air out of the room and to the open windows.
2. Remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner.
   • Wear disposable rubber gloves, if available (do not use your bare hands).
   • Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard.
   • Wipe the area clean with a damp paper towel or disposable wet wipe.
   • Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.
3. Place all cleanup materials in a plastic bag and seal it, and then place in a second sealed plastic bag.
   • If no other disposal or recycling options are available, private residents may dispose of the CFL in residential garbage. Be sure to seal the CFL in two plastic bags and put into the outside trash.
   • Wash your hands after disposing of the bags.
4. The first time you vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag once done cleaning the area (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag and/or vacuum debris, as well as the cleaning materials, in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.

- Colleen

Printing to the Copier

The copier is now set up to be used as a printer. Tom Kurshinsky said in an email, “Instructions and drivers are available on the printers page, http://www.erg.unh.edu/itinfo/Printer/printers.htm. Install it as you would a normal printer but make sure you check out the Further Instructions link.”

UNH Printing & Mail Services Are Doing Their Part

Another article from the Campus Journal, Printing and Mail Services: Cut Costs Not Trees, explains their efforts to reduce the waste generated from bulk mailings. 

In the article, Paul Roberts mentions there is an ink cartridge refill program in the MUB.  Are we using it?

More on UNH’s Sustainability

This article from the Campus Journal expands upon UNH’s efforts, UNH Gets Top Grade on Sustainability Report Card.

UNH Named Green School

There’s an item on today’s UNH homepage, UNH Named Top 15 College Sustainability Leader. This links to an article from GreenBiz about The College Sustainability Report Card. You can read the report yourself here. UNH fares quite well in this report.

The results aren’t quite so glowing in The National Wildlife Federation’s just released Campus Environment 2008 report card. You can read that report here. -Colleen

Bike Rack Shelter

With the the new business school going in at the coops, it may be more appropriate to relocate the bike rack (next to the parking lot) to the underpass side of Gregg.?.

This may cost a bit more, however it will be in a more accessible area…

Something to think about.

salude! - Jeff

Housekeeping…Going Green

When I spoke with Housekeeping about the possibility of switching to green cleaning products in our building, I was told that a campus-wide move to environmentally friendly products is underway. They will use up their stock but the replacement products will be green. - Colleen

Composting is fun!

Here’s the sign with instructions for kitchen composting.  The signs were posted in the kitchens this afternoon.

Easy switching between color and B&W printing

This morning Kathy sent around a tip to make it easy to print in B&W. It’s basically a matter of setting up virtual printers with different settings.  See the explanation and complete instructions Office Watch at http://news.office-watch.com/t/n.aspx?articleid=682&zoneid=8