The Green Lantern: MCCC leading the way with sustainability initiatives

Montgomery County Community College’s commitment to sustainability grew “organically,” according to Celeste Schwartz, vice president of information technology for the college.

One way the college is demonstrating its commitment to sustainability is by its participation in RecycleMania, a 10-week nationwide contest among colleges and universities to see who can reduce, reuse and recycle the most campus waste.

RecycleMania is a program offered by the self-described “recyclemaniacs” at the College and University Recycling Council of the National Recycling Coalition.

The focus on sustainability sprouted about four years ago, when everything “kind of evolved organically,” Schwartz said.

College President Dr. Karen Stout signed the 2007 American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. The following year, Susan Hauck, director of IT instructional support (and a passionate recycling supporter), brought RecycleMania to the campus.

That year, MCCC placed eighth in the country for waste minimization.

The efforts had the backing of the board of trustees, the faculty, the students and their parents then, and they still do, said Alana Mauger, MCCC director of communications.

Since then, the college has participated in the initiative, although not competitively, and will do so again this year for 10 weeks, ending on April 2.

“To compete, you need very clear [waste] weight totals,” said Charlie Scandone, director of facilities management. “Our waste hauler can’t give us weight totals. We hope to change our specifications so that it will allow us to compete in the future. When we compete, the students and the faculty get more serious.”

Until then, participating in the program enables MCCC to compare itself to other community colleges and set goals for improvement.

In 2010’s RecycleMania, 607 schools across the country recycled 84.5 million pounds of materials, preventing the release of more than 137,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the atmosphere, according to a MCCC press release.

Each week, the facilities team will collect and weigh recyclable materials, including paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum and plastics, and enter the totals into the RecycleMania database.

Since 2007, the Climate Commitment and that first RecycleMania, the college has broadened its environmental and sustainability efforts to include the use of energy generated entirely by wind power, the use of bicycles and a hybrid vehicle for public safety, the incorporation of green building and design practices into new construction and renovations, and expansion of campus recycling programs.

Also, staff has programmed all of the college’s copiers to default to two-sided copies (on postconsumer recycled paper), saving ink, money, power and paper. Finally, Scandone’s facilities team combed the campus and swapped out lighting fixtures, replacing metal-halide lights in the gym with fluorescent lamps on timers and the halogen lights (which burned out every three months) with longer-lasting, cooler-burning LED lights.

The purchase of wind power alone will save the college $17,000 each year during the college’s two-year contract with Community Energy and offset 8,696 metric tons of carbon each year.

For more information on the MCCC sustainability initiative and ways the institution is leading by example, start with the college’s “Think Green” blog at http://mc3green.wordpress.com/.