Working towards sustainable actions that leave a positive legacy for future generations

The mission of the CHS Green Committee is to promote intentional thinking about how the CHS’s exhibitions, programs, collections, and daily operations affect the natural environment and the health of our community. While inspiring and fostering a life-long interest in history, we will work towards sustainable actions that leave a positive legacy for future generations.

Some of CHS’s current practices that support our green mission:

• Reducing paper use by stocking printers with paper already printed on one side. Great for printing memos, notes, articles, and other documents for internal use.
• Encouraging re-use of office supplies by collecting old binders, clipboards, cardboard boxes, notepads, folders, and other supplies in the basement for other staff to use, rather than throwing out.
• Using green cleaning products whenever possible. Some of the Hillyard Green Seal™ products we purchase include: Toilet paper & paper towels made from 100% recycled materials, biodegradable soap, and recyclable plastic soap containers
• Recycling toner cartridges, old computers and electronics, and light bulbs.
• Encouraging both staff and our visitors to recycle by using the waste and single-stream recycling receptacles located throughout the building.
• Reducing waste by composting food scraps in the staff kitchen.

Some of CHS’s recent projects that support our green mission:

Ongoing

• With help from the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund, we have begun replacing the light bulbs in our museum galleries and throughout the building with new LED bulbs.

2012

• The main building of the CHS is a historic house built in 1928 by Hartford inventor Curtis Veeder. The recent replacement of the original boiler with a state-of-the-art heating system will cut maintenance costs and reduce overall energy use, including a 9% reduction in our annual natural gas consumption.
• An asbestos remediation project was completed on the first floor of the museum, improving the safety and health of the interior environment.