Tag: Tips

Eco-Friendly Tips to Make Your Halloween Spooktacularly Sustainable!

Halloween is synonymous with tricks, treats, and ghoulish fun! But lurking behind the shadows is a chilling fact: the monstrous waste produced during this festive season. This is your green Halloween guide to make this holiday both fun and sustainable. 

For Costumes: 

DIY Your Costume Magic! Don’t let those old clothes gather ghostly dust. Dive into your wardrobe and create a nifty costume from scratch and if you’re feeling a little uninspired, there’s always the classic sheet ghost or the countless DIY ideas on the web. 

Costume Swapping Soiree! Arrange a Halloween Costume Swap party with friends. Eat spooky treats, blast some eerie tunes, and exchange costumes from past years. Sometimes it is not just about finding the right outfit but also the memories you will create and carry! 

For Decorations: 

Upcycle & Haunt Your House! Before purchasing new Halloween decorations, see if there are items begging for a second life in your garage or storage rooms. Repurpose used cardboard into creepy wall decorations or craft spiders from old magazines. Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube are full of upcycled creepy crafts inspirations!

Pumpkins: Go Local or Go Home! Seek local pumpkin patches instead of big retail stores. Not only does it help local farmers, but you also get the freshest pick for your pumpkins. Don’t forget to use the insides to make delicious dishes like pumpkin pie or roasted seeds for friends and family to share. Once the season is over, remember to drop off your pumpkins and gourds for composting, preventing unnecessary waste on Wednesday, November 1st. 

Composting times are the following: 

  • 12:00 pm-2:00 pm at Weinstein’s & Third North’s outside entrances

For Treats: 

For candies, shop for organic, fair-trade Halloween treats and choose options that will give you the most candy for the least amount of waste. You could also consider alternatives like Halloween-themed pencils, mini coloring books, or bookmarks that are relatively low-waste.

The Not-So-Terrifying Treat Bag! Ditch the one-use plastic bags, and instead, reuse a tote for trick-or-treating. Jazz it up with some DIY spooky designs to make it a bewitched bag for the exciting day! 

While Halloween might be about spooks and scares, the environmental impact doesn’t have to be. With these tips, you can celebrate in eco-style and prove that going green can be just as fun, if not more so, than the usual ghostly waste!

Mandatory Composting is Coming to NYC!

A curbside composting program is expanding across all five boroughs in New York City! This program, which is expected to be enforced for all New York residents in the Spring of 2025, began in Brooklyn this week with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to food waste. As the city prepares for our participation in curbside composting, it is important that we understand what to do.

Why should I compost?
When food waste is dumped into landfills, it produces methane, which is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. Reducing methane emissions would have a significant impact on our environment as the IPCC suggests that this gas is responsible for 30-50% of the global temperature increase. Composting reduces landfill waste, which in turn reduces this potent greenhouse gas. And it’s an easy solution to implement in our daily lives as nearly ⅓ of NYC’s residential waste stream is made up of material that can be composted. 

What is curbside composting?
In June 2023, the New York City Council approved a bill that requires New Yorkers to separate their food waste from regular waste, similar to how we do with recyclable items. What this means is that all residential buildings on every block in every borough will have the ability to place their composting curbside in a separate bin on their recycling day for pickup. 

Brooklyn and Queens residents currently have this option, which will come to the Bronx and Staten Island in March 2024 and then to Manhattan in October 2024. Composting will then be enforced in Spring 2025.

How is that different from composting at NYU?
It’s not much different – the City just set a policy that mandates composting rather than having composting continue on a voluntary basis. Here at NYU, we already collect organics at most of NYU’s dining halls, the Kimmel Center, and at Washington Square Village and Silver Towers residential buildings. These bins are marked with a green organics label, and will accept all food and food soiled paper, compostable cups and cutlery, and coffee grounds, filters, and tea bags. These bins will not accept plastics or styrofoam.

As we gear up for the rollout in Manhattan in October 2024 and then enforcement in Spring 2025, NYU will follow this City requirement. 

What will curbside composting accept?
You can place all food scraps, plant waste, and food-soiled paper in any of the city’s curbside composting bins. No need to overthink this – if it’s something that you can eat or grow, you can compost it!

What should not go in the compost bin?
Do not compost anything that should be recycled, like metal, glass, plastic, cartons, and cardboard, or other trash items like wrappers, pet waste, medical waste, diapers, foam, or hygiene products.

Where can I compost before curbside composting is enforced?
In addition to the locations at NYU, the City has installed 400 smart compost bins across the five boroughs. These bright-orange bins are available 24/7, accept the same scraps as curbside composting, and require an app called NYC Compost, which can be downloaded here. This link will also bring you to a full list of drop-off sites across all five boroughs!

How can I store my compost at home?
Compost can be stored in a freezer at home between pickups and dropoffs. DIY compost storing bins can be made of brown paper bags – like the ones from Trader Joes. Compost can be also stored in empty jumbo mayonnaise or peanut butter containers as well as ziplock bags because they are easy to clean and reuse after being emptied in a communal bin.

Sustainability Tips for the Summer

Whether you’re graduating or just going home for the summer, here are some tips for living sustainably while you enjoy the sunny weather.

Stay Connected!

The NYU Office of Sustainability continues to plan exciting projects and events throughout the summer. Keep up to date on NYU’s sustainability initiatives and opportunities by signing up for our newsletter. 

Make conscious consumer choices.

Summertime is usually filled with long-awaited vacations, and you might be tempted to shop for a whole new wardrobe to celebrate. If you’re purchasing new summer attire, consider gently used and thrifted options or look at where your items were produced, under what conditions, and how far they had to travel to get to your door. Not only do used goods help the environment, but they can also help your wallet as they are usually much more cost-effective than new products. 

Get your green thumb out!

Even as we approach June, It’s not too late to start a garden! Try to grow your own produce this summer instead of taking trips to the grocery store and buying packaged goods. You can plant cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, and many more yummy vegetables that taste even better when grown in your own backyard or window sill garden. 

If growing produce is a little intimidating, try your hand at helping a house plant grow. With longer days and warmer weather, there are tons of nurseries bursting with different plants to choose from.

Explore ways to advance your favorite environmental causes. 

Scope out an organization that helps you clean up your neighborhood or city, helps plant trees, or builds community gardens. Attend community board meetings, get involved with local environmental activists, and reach out to your elected officials. 

Want to advance sustainability but not sure where to start? You can start off by using our Climate Venn and Student Sustainability Guide as resources for figuring out how you can contribute to making the world a little greener.

How to Take Sustainable Graduation Photos

Student in graduation cap standing in front of flowersEvery May, public spaces near NYU buildings (like Washington Square Park) are flooded with violet gowns and black caps as graduating students capture photos they’ll cherish for years. Cameras flash and families exchange congratulations. The streets in between the many iconic NYU buildings come alive in jubilation. 

But after the party ends and the graduates leave, the setting is quite different. Glitter, balloons, and streamers may look great in pictures, but a lot of them get left behind and become an environmental nuisance. 

Don’t let your joy become a pain for the parks, the streets, or the planet! Below are some tips on how to celebrate your graduation more sustainably. Read more

Still missing something you need? Move-in tips to reduce waste

Every year, over 11,000 NYU students move into residence halls all across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Lined up in front of the halls on move-in day, there are not only grinning students, but also mini fridges, microwaves, fans, and lamps, just to name a few. Students and their families haul these new items up to their rooms in preparation for the year ahead.

Yet, several months later when the rooms are cleared, where does all of this equipment end up? While sometimes put in storage or donated, most items end up in the landfill after the school year comes to a close. 

Tips for Reducing Your Waste During Move-In:

  • Rent Second-Hand Items:  After observing the amount of waste that accumulates from residence halls, NYU entrepreneur Patrick Varuzza wanted to help students reduce their carbon footprint and support a circular economy. He founded Hubbub, a platform allowing students to rent dorm/apartment essentials and have the items delivered directly to their residence. Their inventory ranges from microwaves to coffee machines to vacuums. Since they pick it up at the end of the academic year there is no waste!
  • Purchase Reusables: Ensure that you have a reusable water bottle, coffee mug, utensils, and bags once you move into your residence. Plastic packaging waste quickly accumulates and NYU no longer gives out single-use water bottles in efforts to reduce our environmental impact. 
  • Fight Food Insecurity with the Student Pantry: The College Student Pantry at SAFH in East Village addresses food insecurity among students by providing them with free food and meals. By making an appointment, you receive 3-days worth of groceries. There will be a Welcome Event on Wednesday, Sept 7th 4pm-7pm for free groceries, cooking demos, and student care kits.
  • Borrow Books: NYU Libraries outlines how you can borrow books, videos, and audio from NYU, Consortium, and Non-NYU libraries. Facebook Marketplace, the Strand, and other used book stores also offer affordable reading materials. By borrowing or purchasing secondhand, you give books more uses and eliminate waste. 
  • Borrow & Swap Items with Friends: Students can both dispose of items they no longer want and attain new supplies by exchanging with others. As upperclassmen move into new residences, they might be looking to give away some items so ask around. It’s easy to swap books, clothes, equipment, and other everyday essentials.
  • Familiarize Yourself with Waste Bins: NYU has landfill and mixed recycling bins on every floor with composting bins in dining halls. Each hall also has a bin to collect textiles typically located near the laundry room. By correctly sorting your waste, you help reduce the amount of trash that ends up in landfills. 
  • Use Donation Services Throughout the Year: Check out the DonateNYC portal for a comprehensive resource on where to donate all of your items including clothes, furniture, food, bedding, books, and household items. By donating throughout the year, you reduce the number of items you need to discard when move-out comes around. 
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