Sustainability Tips

Find new uses for your old stuff. For example, avoid using paper towels by cutting up an old t-shirt and use the pieces as you would a paper towel. You can wash the pieces of cloth and use them over and over.

Try to buy recycled products. The label will state the percent of post-consumer recycled content.

Take notes on BOTH SIDES of paper, and make sure printers are always set to print on both sides.

Take advantage of local and organic choices offered at the Northstar Cafe and Dana. About 12% of food at Dana is local and organic.

Fair trade coffee options, available at the Pub, are both more economically and environmentally friendly.

Bring your own forks and spoons to the pub and skip those one-time-use plastic ones.

Not all fonts are created equal.  Not only are they a style preference, some are more environmentally friendly than others.  Century Gothic uses the least amount of ink, followed by Eco Font and Times Roman.  If you're worried about paper use as well, Century Gothic is wider, so make sure to reduce character spacing and page margins.

Effective December 5, 2011, it is no longer legal to throw out rechargeable batteries with your trash.  Batteries such as rechargeable AA's, rechargeable power tool and laptop batteries, small sealed lead-acid batteries and others are included in the ban. 

Brewer Bookstore is one place you may bring your rechargeable batteries for recycling.  A collection box has been set up at the bookstore cashier counter.  Be sure to place each battery in its own plastic baggy (available at the collection site) before putting it in the box (Batteries must be in separate baggies because of Department of Transportation Rules; loosely packaged spent lithium batteries have caused fires during shipping and storage.)  Instructions are posted on the collection box.  Any person may drop off up to 10 rechargeable batteries per day.

To see examples of rechargeable batteries visit Call2Recycle.