Get Involved

Ways to Contribute to Sustainability at SUNY Orange

Recycling the College has made recycling easy for everyone. Both indoor and outdoor recycle bins are paired with trash cans making it easy to pick the correct container for your disposals. We currently co-mingle our recyclables. This means that paper, glass, plastic and aluminum are collected together.

TerraCycling In order to further reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill, we actively participate in several TerraCycle Brigades. Currently we collect the following “trash items”:

Granola bar wrappers, chip bags, Little Bites bags, used writing utensils, tape cores, oral care packaging, personal care and beauty packaging, PUR and Brita items, and non-college purchased E-waste. For more information and specifics, please see information on the collection boxes located at both campuses.

The money we “earn” from these collections goes toward purchasing plants for our Educational Gardens.

Help Save Energy by turning out lights when you leave a room.

Help Save Paper by asking the following questions before clicking the print icon:

How many pages is the document?
Which pages do I need to print?
Should I e-mail this article to myself?
Would it be better to save the document to a thumb drive?

Find more tips for reducing paper waste here: http://www.sunyorange.edu/library/docs/paper-saving-tips.pdf

Share a Ride to save fuel. The college collaborates with 511NYRideshare to help students, faculty and staff find folks to share a ride with.

Take the Campus Shuttle between campuses. The college offers FREE rides between our Middletown and Newburgh campuses. See the Shuttle Bus schedule.

Use Reusable Water Bottles and Mugs. The Cafeterias at both campuses offer reduced pricing when using your own mug.

Participate in Earth Day Celebrations. Both our campuses celebrate Earth Day during the third week of April. Students, faculty and staff work in a collaborative manner to put on a lively, educational, fun, and engaging celebration featuring speakers, informational tables, student clubs, environmental organizations, E-waste collection, campus clean-ups and so much more. (See photos from previous years’ Earth Day events).

America Recycles Day is celebrated in November and features informational tables, recycle games, and prizes. Tables are primarily staffed by students. (See photos from previous years’ America Recycles Day events).

Educational Gardens. Both our campuses have installed educational gardens to promote awareness and sensitivity toward more sustainable gardening methods. At the Middletown campus, we have a Native Woodland Garden, a Xeriscape Garden, a Rain Garden and a Wetland Garden while the Newburgh Campus features a Rain Garden. These gardens were installed in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardeners. Students, faculty, staff and community members volunteered with the installation and now actively participate in the ongoing upkeep and maintenance. See photos of our Educational Gardens.

Anyone wishing to join the College’s sustainability efforts are encouraged to contact the Co-Chairs of the College’s Sustainability Committee amanda.crowell@sunyorange.edu, or monty.vacura@sunyorange.edu.

For additional information and lots more photos visit us on Facebook.