Tips

Empty glass and plastic bottles, and paper you no longer need—put it all in the specially-designated metal and plastic bins. There are hundreds of them distributed among all Hunter campuses. You’ll help keep glass, plastic and paper—infinitely reusable materials—out of the waste stream. Hunter even recycles your spent batteries. See the Green Map for battery recycling locations. 

Some buildings on our campuses are older than others and must be air-conditioned with window units. If you’re in a room equipped with a window unit and you are the last to leave the room, make sure the unit is turned off. Unlike the lights in the rooms, these units are not connected to sensors that will shut them off when rooms are unoccupied. In most cases, cooling a room overnight is a needless waste of electricity and money, and blows excess heat into the atmosphere unnecessarily.

Bottled water is convenient for those on the go, but petroleum is consumed and greenhouse gases are produced to package, transport and refrigerate it. And a high percentage of empty plastic bottles end up in landfills instead of being recycled. If you find it difficult to pass up bottled water, you can at least slow the consumption, emission and pollution cycle by refilling your empty bottle from our water fountains instead of purchasing a fresh bottle each time you get thirsty.

Most computers on our campuses are installed with software that powers them down after a certain period of inactivity, some are not. Whether yours shuts down automatically or not, it’s a good idea to get in the habit of turning off your computer when you leave campus for the day, or even if you think you’ll be away from your workstation for more than half an hour. The cumulative energy savings can be substantial.

Hunter College is crisscrossed by bus and subway lines and streets. From almost anywhere you happen to live in the metropolitan area, you can get to our campuses and back without having to drive. By choosing this option, you help to curb petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Less electricity is consumed when fewer people are using campus elevators. If you only have to travel up or down three or fewer stories, why not take the stairs? And it’s an easy way to fit a mini-workout into your day.

One steadily-leaking faucet can account for 180 gallons of water lost down the drain each day. View the NYC Department of Environmental Protection fact sheet detailing the cost of leaks. If you notice a faucet on campus that is running, turn it off. If you are unable to turn off the water stream, contact the Office of Facilities Management and report the leak. In addition to preventing unnecessary waste, you’ll have helped lessen the burden on New York City’s drainage infrastructure.

The overhead lights in most rooms at Hunter campuses are connected to occupancy sensors; if no motion is detected in these rooms after a certain amount of time, lights automatically turn off, saving electricity. But there are some rooms on Hunter’s campuses that are not yet equipped with sensors. If you notice a classroom or conference room with its lights on that does not appear to be in use, take the simple step of switching off the lights.

Reduce your personal paper consumption by leaving emails and website contents where you first viewed them—on the computer monitor. If you want to share an e-item with others, just email it to them as a forward or an attachment, and encourage the recipients to do the same. For rough drafts and items that are of relatively low importance, use paper that has already been printed on one side and was destined for the recycle bin. Some printers on campus can even be configured to print double-sided, allowing you to cut your paper consumption in half.