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Green Living at Simmons

Commuting

Take the T!

Instead of taking a cab down the street, take the T. The T is much cheaper than a cab, and better for the environment.


Buy a bike!

One of the great things about Boston is that everything is relatively close to each other. Buying a bike would save you money, because you wouldn’t have to take the T. You can build your own bike at http://www.bikesnotbombs.org. Or you can buy a bike at any bike store.

Shopping

When buying gifts, adopt something!

A nice gift to give for any occasion is a sustainable gift. A cool gift idea would be to adopt an animal at wildlifeadoption.org. Or you can adopt a habitat and/or tree.

Don’t forget to wrap your gifts with something you can find around the house like newspaper or paper bags. They can be decorated and it is better than buying more paper. Maps also make very good wrapping paper since most maps are NOT recyclable, because so much ink is used on them. So reuse maps as wrapping paper!

When you go to a store bring your own bags!

By bringing your own bags, you are minimizing the need for more plastic or papers bags to be made. This helps eliminate the use of chemicals, energy and water used to make new bags.

Recycle your plastic bags!

Both the Fenway Shaw’s and Trader Joe’s on Boylston Street take plastic bags and reuse them!

Buy organic food and try to buy locally!

Organic food is much healthier than food that is not organic. Organic food uses little to no pesticides, and follow strict restrictions in order to be called organic. If you can, try to buy locally at a Farmers’ Market. Buying locally reduces the energy used to bring products from different states or countries. Check out http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/ to find information on Farmers’ Markets in the Boston area.

When buying plates, cups and bowls for campus living, try to buy glassware and porcelain!

Plastic takes much more energy to produce then glass or porcelain. Also, petroleum is used to make plastic and this can be harmful; glass or porcelain can be a safer option. Plastic has been thought to leak carcinogens into your food when heated up.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Recycle everything you can!

It’s one of the easiest ways to be sustainable. Recycling reduces the need to produce goods from raw materials, and saves energy, water, and oil.

Recycle your inkjet cartridges!

You can recycle your ink cartridges almost anywhere.

  • Simmons: There is a box set up for you to recycle your ink cartridges outside of the Campus Activities Board (CAB) office, W-004.
  • Staples: Turn in your ink cartridge here, and you receive a discount on your next purchase.
  • Walgreens: Walgreens on Newbury Street, will also refill your ink cartridge jets. Refilling your ink cartridges is cheaper than buying new ones and saves plastic from being used to make a new one. Also, it saves the ink cartridges form going into the landfill.
  • Online: You can recycle your ink cartridges by registering online at http://www.123inkjets.com. They will send you a postage paid bag to send your ink cartridges back when you need to refill it.

Recycle your office toner cartridges!

Administration at Simmons can bring their printer cartridges to Shipping & Receiving, E-010. Roxbury Technology or Corporate Express pick these up daily and recycle them for us!

Reuse water bottles!

Reuse your water bottles and fill them 3 or 4 more times before you recycle them. An important part of being sustainable is also reducing and reusing. A better alternative to buying bottles of water is buying a Nalgene bottle. An even better alternative is to buy an aluminum sports bottle.

Check out these websites for more information on reusable bottles:

You can also visit a sporting goods store. Try REI, City Sports or EMS.

Buy recycled products!

Buying recycled products shows a demand for them; this may help to bring about more recycling in our society!