NINDS Green Team
Contact: Vivian Yang (Vivian.yang@nih.gov)
NINDS has an active Green Team working to make NINDS operations more environmentally sustainable. We always welcome new members, so please join us! Contact Vivian Yang to join to the NINDS Green Team.
Future Goals:
Continue lab greening activities such as the Green Labs Fairs, labs recycling programs and the Styrofoam container exchange.
Continue to promote recycling throughout NINDS through events such as America Recycles Day at NSC.
Continue education and outreach efforts by showing environmental films, providing green tips in NINDS news updates, and hosting speakers.
Accomplishments:
Employee Education and Engagement:
Green tips in every NINDS news update. Topics included recycling, energy conservation, bottled water, using recycled paper, paper use reduction, and ways to go green at home.
Green ideas competition.
Showings of green-themed movies such as Kilowatt Ours, The Story of Stuff, and the PBS documentary, Poisoned Waters.
Green Labs:
Recycling:
America Recycles Day event at NSC. At the event, volunteers answered questions about recycling, showcased items that can be recycled at NSC, distributed compost bins, and collected a number of items such as shoes, eyeglasses and toner cartridges.
Distribution of 250 desk side recycling bins for mixed paper and comingled recycling to staff.
100% recycled paper purchasing throughout NINDS OD and DER.
Distributed battery recycling bins to every building where NINDS staff are located.
Energy:
NINDS actively participated in the NIH Lights Out Campaign by distributing stickers to staff throughout the Institute and advertising the campaign in our newsletter.
Installed Dyson hand dryers in our Building 31 bathrooms and are currently considering installing these machines in other locations.
Green Meetings:
NINDS has worked to green our meetings, both within the Institute as well as external meetings that we sponsor. Pre-Council and Extramural Science Committees have started using laptops and SharePoint to provide information to committee members rather than printing books for their bi-weekly meetings.
The COUNTERACT program held a meeting in San Francisco where all materials were given out on a thumb drive rather than as paper handouts and the meeting facility provided a number of green options for catering and other amenities.