This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: June 9, 2011

  • Recycling efforts recognized

    Campus Dining & Shops (CDS) has been commended by the Keep America Beautiful national community action and education organization for its efforts in diverting more than 1 million pounds of plastic, aluminum, glass, cardboard, paper and food waste from landfills last year—the largest amount in CDS’ history.

    “Recycling is a community-building activity that can improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods and our world,” says Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, the nation’s largest volunteer-based, nonprofit organization promoting litter prevention, recycling, waste reduction and community greening. “We commend these outlets for helping to keep their communities clean and for having such a significant impact on recycling rates.”

    Campus Dining and Shops recently placed 4 new TOMRA Uno reverse vending machines in high traffic areas on the North Campus. The new Uno machines accept and sort all plastic recyclable containers, giving a bottle refund receipt for items that qualify under the New York bottle deposit program.

    TOMRA also was commended by Keep America Beautiful.

    In addition to installing the TOMRA recycling machines, CDS’ green efforts include using paper-based tableware instead of Styrofoam in all its retail dining locations; using china plates and silverware, which are washed and reused, in all of its residential dining centers and retail dining locations such as The Greenery, Pistachio’s and The Tiffin Room; going “trayless” in its residential dining centers; and installation of a food waste decomposer in Statler Commissary that transforms everyday refuse like onion skins, egg shells and chicken bones, into a soil amendment gardeners can use to fertilize their plots.

    “Now more than ever, the University at Buffalo is focused on going green and improving the environment,” says Jeff Brady, executive director of Campus Dining & Shops. “Recycling is a significant part of our sustainability efforts. Beverage containers alone account for up to 50 percent of the volume in a typical trash bin.

    “Our hope is that the Uno (reverse vending machine) is the perfect solution here at UB because it conveniently and easily collects and stores almost every brand of plastic beverage container and encourages the next generation of recyclers to be more green,” Brady says.

    For more information on Campus Dining & Shops sustainability efforts, visit its website.

  • ‘On Point’ to broadcast live from WBFO

    Award-winning National Public Radio journalist Tom Ashbrook will broadcast his show, “On Point,” live from the studios of WBFO 88.7 FM, UB’s NPR affiliate.

    The live broadcast will take place from 10 a.m. to noon on June 10. A luncheon, a collaboration between WBFO and WNED 970AM, will be held in the WNED studios following the broadcast. Ashbrook will speak and answer audience questions.

    “On Point” unites distinct and provocative voices with passionate discussion as it confronts the stories that are at the center of what is important in the world today. Leaving no perspective unchallenged, “On Point” digs past the surface and into the core of a subject, exposing its real-world implications.

    Each hour of the broadcast opens with a news brief analyzing the day’s biggest stories, followed by an in-depth conversation decoding a single topic with newsmakers, thinkers and callers, and closes with compelling personal reactions to news and important issues, including radio diaries, excerpts from speeches, or special series segments.

    Ashbrook is joined on the broadcast by news analyst Jack Beatty, senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly.

  • UB to host conference

    UB will host the 6th International Conference on the History of Alcohol and Drugs June 23-26 in the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Buffalo.

    Ninety scholars from around the globe are expected to attend the conference, titled “The Pub, the Street and the Medicine Cabinet.” It is presented by the Alcohol and Drug History Society in partnership with the American Institute for the History of Pharmacy.

    David Herzberg, assistant professor of history, is conference organizer.

    Sessions will focus on the history of alcohol, drugs and pharmaceuticals from the ancient world to the 21st century. Presenters will include both new and established scholars, and historians, as well as physicians, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and others.

    The documentary film “The Narcotics Farm” will be screened, a dialogue between historians and addiction researchers will be featured.

    For more information, visit the conference website or contact Herzberg at herzberg@buffalo.edu.

  • Flags at half-mast today, tomorrow

    Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has directed that flags on state government buildings—including those at UB—be flown at half-mast on June 9 and June 10 in honor of New York soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan.

    Army Spc. Devin Snyder of Cohocton died on June 4 of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device struck her vehicle during a mounted patrol in Lagham province. She was assigned to the 164th Military Police Company of the 793rd Military Police Battalion, part of the 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

    Fort Drum soldiers CW 2 Bradley J. Gaudet and CW 3 Kenneth R. White died on June 5 when their OH-58 Kiowa helicopter crashed in Khost province. The two men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment of the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade assigned to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum. Gaudet was from Gladewater, Texas; White was from Fort Collins, Colo.

    Cuomo has ordered that flags on all state buildings be lowered to half-mast in honor of and tribute to New York service members who are killed in action or die in a combat zone.