Rental Guide: Students encourage greener habits through conservation

When Stephanie Roman finishes a water bottle or scraps a first draft, she never misses the recycling bin.

A junior nonfiction writing and English literature major, Roman spends the majority of her day at the Cathedral of Learning, where opportunities to recycle are always within eyesight. There are not too many changes when she returns home to her off-campus apartment, as it is hard to miss the three large garbage cans labeled “Recycle.”

“It’s easy,” Roman said.

For many students, the transition to moving off campus inspires a fresh outlook on energy consumption and conservation.

Sage Lincoln, business manager for student environmental organization Free the Planet, offered a variety of simple suggestions for sustainable off-campus living.  

“One thing that’s great about off-campus students is they get the bills,” Lincoln said. “They see what they use and they have a lot of motivation to change that.”

To establish a baseline on electric consumption within a household, Lincoln suggested requesting an online energy audit from electric providers such as Duquesne Light, which provides free reports.

 Lincoln proposed a set of tricks to curb gas bills, which usually climb during the winter season.

She recommended setting the thermostat between 60 and 63 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as patching any areas of the house exposed to the elements.

According to Lincoln, caulk, a rubbery material once it dries, can seal gaps between windows and their respective sills. Additionally, a towel or plastic strip can be wedged at the foot of doors — especially those leading to the basement — to prevent drafts from the outside.

Caulk and plastic strips are purchasable at the majority of home improvement stores, Lincoln said.

She also said that although the city offers recycling collection every other week, the types of plastics it accepts are limited.

According to the “Old Farmer’s Almanac” website, plastics are separated into numerical classifications — one through six — based on their physical properties and potential value post-recycling. The labels are located at the bottom of the recyclable material.

The city collects numbers one through five, but will not accept materials classified under number six, which, Lincoln said, includes materials such as red solo cups.

However, Lincoln said, students who really wish to recycle their cups can bring them to the University, because the facilities accept code-six materials for recycling.

Since the city does not collect compost, Lincoln suggested bringing food waste, such as fruits and vegetables, to Oakland Avenue. The block between Sennot and Bates streets hosts Oakland Garden, where residents can easily deposit their leftovers in a bin to be used as compost. The compost is, in turn, used by Plant to Plate, a Pitt student group that practices urban gardening in the Oakland Avenue lot.

Free the Planet receives funding for projects from Pitt’s Green Fund, a board of students in charge of allocating money to environmental groups on campus. It receives its funding through the $2.3 million Student Activities Fund, which is paid for through the Student Activities Fee.

For the past couple of years, the Green Fund has contributed to the Student Sustainability Handbook, which details ways to support going green throughout campus.  

Isaac Freedman, coordinator of Pitt’s Green Fund, said the handbook has many tips on ways to be sustainable on campus. 

“I think there’s a lot of gems in there,” Freedman, a junior physics major, said. 

The handbook was distributed to Pitt freshmen on flash drives to limit paper waste. 

Despite the demands of her schoolwork, Amelia Ohm, a senior nonfiction writing major, also attempts to conserve her paper usage.

“I always print on both sides of the paper. I hate printing things that are unnecessary,” Ohm said. 

Aside from a few of her writing classes — which require one-sided printing as a formality — Ohm rarely depletes her allotment of printed pages each semester.

“I always have people using my printer paper at the end of the semester,” she said.