CCNY Attempts to Soften Its Environmental Impact

By NICOLE McDOWELL

City College’s 15,000 students,produce over 27,000 pounds of waste and consume more than 427,000 kWh of electricity daily. To help lessen the college’s environmental impact City College has created a plan called Sustainable CCNY.

Sustainable CCNY is sponsored by the NYC Materials Exchange Development Program, part of the college’s Department of Civil Engineering. The program promotes social, ecological and economic practices that will benefit the entire CCNY community, not just the campus.

“We hope to inspire others to reduce their own waste and emissions,” Said Ellis Simon, the director of public relations.

The group is focusing mainly on waste prevention, reuse, recycling and composting as well as ways to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse emissions while encouraging environmentally friendly purchases, like recycled-content office supplies, remanufactured office furniture, non-toxic cleaning supplies and local/seasonal food for food services. Good detail.

During club hour, students for sustainable CCNY sometimes have a table in the rotunda during where they pass out flyers and take survey to help educate students about what is being done and how they can help make their community more environmentally friendly. The club is also showing a series of environmental documentaries, some on campus and some off campus

Future projects include a waste stream system for each building on campus. This would include setting up specific bins for the designated type of waste, paper, plastic, glass. It would start in just one building and then expand depending on how effective the project is. There are several of these bins located throughout the NAC.

The club, located in Steinman hall room 102, is an offshoot of the initial project CCNY GREEN. It’s one thing to say that things are going to change and another to actually see things changing,

“The first floor bathrooms have automatic faucets and dryers, at least the men’s room do, I haven’t been in the female one lately,” 21 year old Serge Donat, a senior Biomed engineering student said, “And the Towers and the new Architect building are using some new heating efficiency system.”

A report from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York it is anticipated that the project would incorporate green building design standards that lead to certification that a building is really as “green” or eco-friendly as its builders claim it to be.
Ellis Simon stressed the fact that CCNY is the first campus to have its CO2 gas emissions report officially done. Officials have made this report as well as all other information regarding how the college is going green accessible to students and anyone else who is concerned about the environment and wants to change it.