As you returned or arrived to campus in the fall, you may have seen the new waste bins (including compost!) in the Commons. In case you were wondering, here's how they came to be, and how you can use them! Help us spread the word by sharing this post with your networks: http://sustainability.umbc.edu/waste

Check out this illustrated guide from OCSS for sorting recycling, composting and waste (printable PDF)

UMBC's new bins have 3 or 4 slots:

1. Paper
2. Landfill
3. Compostable (Commons & UC only)
4. Glass, Cans, Plastic

The labels are available as stickers as well, to show and explain how waste should be sorted. The new bins are located in the Commons, and at lecture halls, and will be phased in across campus as a new indoor standard. Outdoor recycling bins (the black, metal, circular bins) accept all recyclables: paper, glass, cans and plastic.

Above: President Freeman Hrabowski demonstrating new 3 hole bins.

Compost

Learn about compostable packaging: 

What can we compost?

• All Food Waste
• Soiled Paper Products (such as used napkins, pizza boxes, etc. If you notice a plastic or wax coating, toss into the landfill slot for general trash)
• Plant-based Packaging (just check the labels and images below)

• True Grits Dining Hall (all food waste is composted in the kitchen, including food on used dishes)
• The Commons (labeled green slots in waste bins)
  
• University Center (ground floor by dining options)

Why Compost?

Composting allows food to decompose naturally into valuable fertile soil. Otherwise, food waste decomposing in a landfill without oxygen would create methane, a problematic greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Learn more at epa.gov!

History: Collaboration and Coordination

We were able to start composting our food waste in 2012 thanks to the efforts of SGA Sustainability Intern Madeline Hall (featured in the composting video below), and a coordinating committee including student leaders, our dining provider Chartwells, contract coordinators Campus Card, our green housekeeping group, and the company who picks up our compost and returns the decomposed food as fertile soil, Waste Neutral, as well as Facilities Management and UMBC's Sustainability Coordinator!

Composting has been phased into food services since 2012, starting with the Dining hall, then the Commons- to allow time to collaboratively select, purchase, and install new user friendly bins, to become a standard across campus.

Awareness: Events, Promotions and Education

Our student partners such as Students for Environmental Awareness, SGA Department of Environmental Affairs and SGA Sustainability interns have taken the lead in the 2012-2013 school year and designed educational outreach programs to raise awareness on why and how to compost on campus since composting was first introduced on campus!

We are excited to work with anyone interested in helping spread the word! Just email sustainability@umbc.edu to get involved!

Check out the student video about composting in the dining hall: http://youtu.be/Jlf80VmIvpQ

Some popular past published updates on composting:

• Taking time to compost in The Commons, by Zoe Gensheimer; An article from the Retriever Weekly describing composting!
• Check out the inside scoop: News on composting & recycling! Stay up to date on how you can pitch in!
• SUSTAINABLE FOOD AT UMBC! Chartwells has been doing tons of great things to go "green!

Zero Waste Events

Consider plant-based compostable dishware and flatware rather than plastic or Styrofoam for your next campus event with food and be sure to request a portable compost bin and pick up service through events services!  The new SGA Green Paws fund allows student organizations to acquire plant based compostable materials at no additional cost.

Do you have any questions or ideas about composting on campus?

In this episode of The Treehouse Show, Nick Pettit (@nickrp) and Jason Seifer (@jseifer) talk about the latest in web design, web development, html5, front end development, and more.

Here are the links for the week:

Type Hunting
http://typehunting.com/

Random User Generator
http://randomuser.me/

Unsplash
http://unsplash.com/

An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Node.js
http://blog.modulus.io/absolute-beginners-guide-to-nodejs

Buttons – A CSS button library built with Sass and Compass
http://alexwolfe.github.io/Buttons/

Compress PNG Images Online
http://compresspng.com/

Blind – A 1X Web Browser for Retina Displays – Mac OS X
http://blindbrowser.com/

Formstone  /  Ben Plum
http://www.benplum.com/formstone/

The post Node.js, CSS Buttons, and PNG Compression – Treehouse Show Ep 56 appeared first on Treehouse Blog.

When Google acquired YouTube back in 2006, most people expected to see a rebrand to pull the video sharing site closer to its parent company’s corporate style.

That anticipated rebrand may finally be on the cards 7 years later as YouTube rolled out updates to its apps at the end of August, featuring a swanky new logo. Strange then, that the new branding has thus far failed to appear on YouTube’s web sites.

Questions are being asked, particularly in the light of Yahoo!’s disasterous rebrand, if Google has had a change of heart.

The new YouTube app.

The new logo features a red square, the famous YouTube TV shape imposed on it, this time in white, and a generic play icon — not too dissimilar to the favicon YouTube use. The new logo also features Google’s corporate face, Open Sans. And whilst I’m a big fan of the typeface, I do question the wisdom of using the lightest weight for a logo that will need to reproduce very small. Especially in the context of the impending iOS7 release and the light Helvetica the early designs used.

The new YouTube logo.

Given the relative complexities of updating a website and updating and distributing an app, you have to wonder, what’s the delay?

YouTube.com on September 10th 2013.

It seems there are two possibilities: Either google has done a complete about-face and having launched the app with a new brand will be reverting to the Trade Gothic logo shortly; or a full redesign of the YouTube site is imminent.

Either way, the branding would have far more impact if launched across all fronts simultaneously.

What do you think of the new YouTube logo? Should YouTube switch to the new branding or stick with their old? Let us know your views in the comments.

Design Buffet: Premium Design Bundle – only $39!

If you live in the DMV and are interested in learning more about graduate school, plan to take a “road trip” to the GEM GRAD Lab on Saturday, September 28!

From the GEM Website: “GRAD Lab encourages young people of color to consider graduate engineering or science education and applying for the GEM fellowship.” 

Segments of the program:

• “Why Graduate School”
• “How to Prepare for Graduate School”
• “Understanding the GEM Fellowship”, and
• “Voices From the Field: Real Life Research and Internship Experiences”

Program Agenda: http://www.gemfellowship.org/events/grad-lab/391-gl-virginia-agenda-2013

The event is free! Register here:

http://egem.gemfellowship.org/events/ViewEvent.aspx?contextID=10097

Students from any school in the region may register for this free event! Just set up a free eGEM account and register online using the link above.  

UMBC’s Sr. Assistant Dean for Graduate Enrollment, K. Jill Barr, J.D., will be one of the panelists!

UVA GEM GRAD Lab Co-sponsors: UMBC, The University of Virginia, Virginia Tech.

• FREE bus transportation will be provided for students from UMBC.  Reserve bus seats by sending email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “BUS for GEM GRAD Lab.”  NSBE, SACNAS, AISES, and SHPE Presidents from schools other than UMBC should send a list on behalf of their students. Each email must have the name of the student, school, major, and email address.  
• Students from schools other than UMBC, and students who are not affiliated with a NSBE, SACNAS, AISES, SHPE chapter,  are encouraged to carpool.
• If you’re planning to go, please let us know. Place a comment here on this page, AND send the email to promisestaff@gmail.com (for the bus trip.)
• The bus will leave at 6:00 AM from the front of UMBC’s Administration Building – landmarks: “Administration Drive,” Flag pole, The Retriever Athletic Center (RAC).  The bus will leave UVA around 4:30 PM, with expected arrival back at UMBC at 6: 30 PM.

Driving directions to UVA: http://www.seas.virginia.edu/about/visit.php

The trip from Baltimore to Charlottesville, VA is approximately 3 hours.

If you live in the DMV and are interested in learning more about graduate school, plan to take a “road trip” to the GEM GRAD Lab on Saturday, September 28!

From the GEM Website: “GRAD Lab encourages young people of color to consider graduate engineering or science education and applying for the GEM fellowship.” 

Segments of the program:

• “Why Graduate School”
• “How to Prepare for Graduate School”
• “Understanding the GEM Fellowship”, and
• “Voices From the Field: Real Life Research and Internship Experiences”

Program Agenda: http://www.gemfellowship.org/events/grad-lab/391-gl-virginia-agenda-2013

The event is free! Register here:

http://egem.gemfellowship.org/events/ViewEvent.aspx?contextID=10097

Students from any school in the region may register for this free event! Just set up a free eGEM account and register online using the link above.  

UMBC’s Sr. Assistant Dean for Graduate Enrollment, K. Jill Barr, J.D., will be one of the panelists!

UVA GEM GRAD Lab Co-sponsors: UMBC, The University of Virginia, Virginia Tech.

• FREE bus transportation will be provided for students from UMBC.  Reserve bus seats by sending email to promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “BUS for GEM GRAD Lab.”  NSBE, SACNAS, AISES, and SHPE Presidents from schools other than UMBC should send a list on behalf of their students. Each email must have the name of the student, school, major, and email address.  
• Students from schools other than UMBC, and students who are not affiliated with a NSBE, SACNAS, AISES, SHPE chapter,  are encouraged to carpool.
• If you’re planning to go, please let us know. Place a comment here on this page, AND send the email to promisestaff@gmail.com (for the bus trip.)
• The bus will leave at 6:00 AM from the front of UMBC’s Administration Building – landmarks: “Administration Drive,” Flag pole, The Retriever Athletic Center (RAC).  The bus will leave UVA around 4:30 PM, with expected arrival back at UMBC at 6: 30 PM.

Driving directions to UVA: http://www.seas.virginia.edu/about/visit.php

The trip from Baltimore to Charlottesville, VA is approximately 3 hours.