Category: "Waste"

By: TANJA SREBOTNJAK, Hixon Center Director During the spring the Hixon Center, with the help of CGU doctoral student Sara Hollar, conducted a series of focus groups on sustainability at Harvey Mudd College. The goal for the undertaking was to evaluate the work of the Hixon Center over the past 4+ years against people’s perceptions […]

By: LOUIS SPANIAS, Sustainability Program Manager Amidst the busyness of everyday life, we often overlook the moments when we throw things away. The decision to dispose is a seemingly trivial moment, but at the same time it is a universal experience: we all use things, and at some point, those things become trash. Even food […]

By: LOUIS SPANIAS, Sustainability Program Manager Last month, I attended the 2nd Symposium on Sustainability in University Campuses (SSUC) conference in Florence, Italy. With 60 attendees from academic institutions around the world (largely from Europe), the conference offered an opportunity to hear from our international counterparts about how they have managed to advance environmental sustainability […]

By: LOUIS SPANIAS, Sustainability Program Manager On Friday, November 9th, I had the opportunity to revisit the Waste Management Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Azusa, CA. As part of the Hixon Center’s “Eco-Engage” Sustainability Dialogue Series held each Fall, I was joined by students, faculty, and staff from across the Claremont Colleges for a tour […]

By: LOUIS SPANIAS, Acting Director of the Hixon Center Typically, when we hear the word “pollution,” our minds run to air pollution. As southern California residents, we see this daily. A stroll along any California freeway, or a look out the plane window just moments after lift-off, reveals the thick layer of haze that sits […]

By: TANJA SREBOTNJAK, Director of the Hixon Center This is the third and final part of a multi-part series on the sustainable management of critical materials. Read Part 1 and Part 2. The previous two segments of this series covered the history and technical details of determining material criticality. This third and final segment identifies some […]

By: TANJA SREBOTNJAK, Director of the Hixon Center This is the second part of a multi-part series on the sustainable management of critical materials. Read Part 1 and Part 3. Previously, I wrote the first segment of this series for the Hixon Center’s blog about the history of critical raw materials (CRM) in the European Union […]

By: TANJA SREBOTNJAK, Director of the Hixon Center This is the first part of a multi-part series on the sustainable management of critical materials. Read Part 2 and Part 3. Recently, I participated in a weeklong workshop on the sustainable management of critical raw materials. The workshop, organized by the EU Commission-funded project “SusCritMat,” mainly caught […]

By: TANJA SREBOTNJAK, Director of the Hixon Center On October 30, students from my E38 course, “Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment,” and ESW/MOSS joined us at the Hixon Center for a tour of Waste Management’s Waste Transfer Station in Azusa, about 15 miles west of Claremont. Serving about 100 cities in Southern California, the facility […]

By: LOUIS SPANIAS, Sustainability Program Manager As the Hixon Center, Facilities & Maintenance, and Dining Services move ahead with plans to improve waste diversion on campus, and while a new dehydrator and additional waste and recycling bins are a step forward, more is needed to create lasting change. Some of you may recall the announcement […]