MCC Sustainability Efforts for April 2016

I.    Did You Know? This spring the Grounds Department transformed the Rock Bed in the heart of campus to a beautiful Butterfly Garden.  Just to the north-east of our lovely seal and beds you will find a mass planting of Red Butterfly Weed (Asclepias curassavica) surrounded by Gregg’s Mist Flower (Eupatorium greggii), with asparagus fern bordering them.  These plants help to attract as well as sustain the Monarch Butterfly, as well as other varieties of butterfly.  The nectar is also attractive to hummingbirds.  We hope everyone enjoys this addition to our landscape!

II.    Sustainability Activities on Campus this Spring: 
a.    RecycleMania at MCC.  Year ending 2015 we had 847,400lbs of trash hauled off by the city.  We recycled using the yellow dumpsters on campus 748,800 lbs. It was picked up by Sunbright and recycled.  We are still tallying the results from this year’s Recyclemania and will share it in the coming month.

b.    Prescription Drug Recycling, April 30: Recycling can be more than separating your cans, glass, and paper goods. Be sustainable and properly dispose of your old prescription drug medication.  By participating in the National Take Back Day, you not only keep prescription drugs out of our water sources and landfills but also out of the hands of someone to whom the drugs aren't prescribed.  Collection date is set for Saturday, April 30th from 10 AM to 2 PM at the following locations:

Collection Site	Address	City
Woodway Public Safety Dept.	920 Estates Dr.	Woodway
Waco Police Dept.	Waco Police Tower, 3115 Pine Avent	Waco
Hewitt Police Dept.	100 Patriot Ct.	Hewitt
Lorena Police Dept.	100 N. Bordon St.	Lorena

Visit www.dea.gov or call 800-9882-9539 for a collection site near you.  In addition, residents of Waco, Hewitt, Lacy Lakeview, Lorena, and Woodway can bring unwanted medications to the Household Hazardous Waste Day on Saturday, May 7.

c.    Household Hazardous Waste Day on Saturday, May 7.  Check waco-texas.com or call (254) 299-2612 for more details.

d.    “Green” Computing Tips:  Help us conserve our computer resources. Please shut down office and lab computers, monitors, and printers on weekends to save energy and to reduce vulnerability to hackers and other malicious activities. For daily energy savings, consider turning off the monitor when not using your PC for more than 20 minutes and turning off both CPU and monitor if not using them for more than 2 hours.  If you will not be on campus this summer, please also consider shutting down your computer and other office electronics until fall for further energy savings. Lastly, Instructors, please help us to conserve energy and extend equipment life by shutting down the document camera and projector in your classroom before you leave.

III.    What are your thoughts on our sustainability efforts?  Check out our website and blog at http://www.mclennan.edu/gogreen/ and http://mccgogreen.blogspot.com/ and see us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SustainabilityMCC.

Thanks for your support.  It takes the entire College to make sustainability work!

The MCC Sustainability Committee