Living at Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray College is our home, let’s take care of it!

We are Pest Free! Let’s stay that way. Bring your waste to basement disposal areas and sort it! (Then there’s nothing for bugs and mice to eat!)

Recycle (Single-Stream)

  • Paper, metals, glass – single stream recycling!
  • Plastics– all plastics EXCEPT plastic bags go in single stream recycling.
  • Empty and recycle your food containers!
  • Pizza boxes should go in recycling, as long as they’re not extremely greasy.
  • Put dead pens, pencils and markers in the collection jar in the laundry room. We’re donating them to Terracycle!

Electronic Waste

Chargers, phone batteries, etc. go in the Universal Waste bin in the College office. All universal waste is safe if it is not cracked or broken. If universal waste like CFL light bulbs or lead acid batteries break, vacate the area for 30 minutes and immediately call Environmental Health and Safety at (203) 785-3555.
 

Trash

Any plastic bags, tissues, wax paper, styrofoam, light bulbs, ceramics, and alkaline batteries should be deposited into Trash bins. Please note alkaline batteries are only A-D type batteries and does not include lithium, cellphone, or rechargeable batteries.
If we mess up, the whole recycling bag gets trashed!
 
The custodial staf pick up recycling and trash from the basement waste areas each weekday. However, they cannot sort your trash because it’s dangerous! So you have to sort it. Your suite comes with a green recycling bin. Be careful to never dump plastic bags of any kind with your recycling (including big garbage bags).
Bring your own trash cans!
 
It’s easier in our college to move your trash bags to the basement thanks to the elevators! To make it simple, assign tasks for your suite at the start of the year.
 

Dining Hall

Take what you want, eat what you take. Get portions you know you will fnish and go back for seconds to minimize food waste. Put food waste and compostable dining-hall provided eating ware in compost. If you bring a container from outside the dining hall, DO NOT COMPOST it; put it in recycling or trash. If a non-compostable item is put in the compost bin, the whole bag gets trashed.
 

Transportation

Landscaping

Enjoy the local plants around the colleges. By choosing these plants, we’re saving water and helping the local ecosystem.
 

Furniture

Be nice to it! Keep it clean! It’s free for you and we’re sharing it with future students. Also, don’t remove it from your room–you’ll get fined.
 

Laundry

Using the COLD WATER cycle is safer for your clothes and cleans normal laundry better than hot water. It saves a lot of energy as well! Hot water can make stains set into clothing! To make sure your clothes dry, clear the lint filter before each load.
 

Water

Use reusable water bottles (perhaps from your MY swag)! New Haven tap water is 100% good for drinking. We also have water bottle refill stations in the basement and on (most) every other floor.
 

Energy

We burn natural gas at the Central Power Plant to generate steam, electricity, and chilled water.Although we use fossil fuels, BF and MY are built to be LEED Gold Certified, meaning we’re designed to be super energy efficient and are built with sustainable materials! Our main energy feature is the 48 underground closed-loop ground source heat pumps that keep us comfortable. Our windowpanes have layers of inert gas that trap warmth.
 
Although the colleges are built to achieve LEED Gold, we still need to use energy carefully. Don’t use extra electricity! Unplug unused electronics: What’s “Vampire Power?” When they are plugged in while turned of, they still suck power out of the wall. Unplug things you’re not using! We have thermostats to adjust the temperature. The set points are centrally controlled. Utilities will want our input later in the year for set points! Shut of lights, power strips, and computers when not in use. Keep the windows closed when it gets cold.