An update from the MCC Green Initiative Task Force

Several green projects have been percolating across the district, and many have paid off. Comingle recycling, which includes all recyclables except, cardboard and glass, have been on the rise. There has been a significant increase in recycling on those campuses that have removed trash containers from the class rooms.

In January, total tons of recycled materials across the district equaled 5.59 tons; the last report, which reflects the end of FY 2010, was 8.89 tons. So far this year MCC has recycled 46.6 tons of comingle items.

Jon Hopkins reported that the recycling efforts at Penn Valley have been received so well, they have ordered additional bins. “The custodial staff loves it,” said Hopkins. “The classrooms are much cleaner.”

Employee recycling is just one of many efforts that MCC is making to conserve, recycle and reduce MCC’s impact on the environment. Green Initiative Task Force member Brad Frisch recently tested the power consumption of PC’s, printers and monitors. One PC that stays on 24/7 costs MCC about $30 per year; a printer only - $20 per year; and a monitor only -$29 per year. Multiply that by the number of PC’s districtwide, and that cost is over $206,000 (or 1,000 lbs of coal). The committee requests that employees who do not access their computers during off hours, to shut down their PC’s before leaving at the end of their day.

MCC’s lighting replacement project is still under way. Retro-fitting the vast majority of the internal and external campus lighting, most with motion sensors, will begin at MCC-Penn Valley next week. Most of the project is complete at Maple Woods and Business & Technology. Longview and Blue River will have updates coming later this fall.

The new Grows Native project at Longview is estimated to save three hours of mowing time and a savings on fuel consumption each week.


Stay tuned to The MCC Insider for monthly green initiative updates, or fan the MCC Green Initiative Task Force facebook page.