Grand Valley State University prides itself on being an eco-friendly school, and their zero-waste campaign is just another successful step in the right direction.

During the campaign, volunteers helped divert 2,255 pounds of compostable items from the landfill along with 1,794 pounds of recyclables throughout this year’s football season. The remaining 2,004 pounds of trash were sent to the landfill, for an overall diversion rate of 67 percent, according to Alyssa Rettelle’s article “Waste not.”

Let’s take a look at a few of GVSU’s sustainable accomplishments.

Over the past few years, GVSU has had a slew of newer buildings on campus receive LEED certifications. This means the buildings were built with best-in-class strategies and were designed to have a positive impact on the health of the occupants through the use of renewable, clean energy.

GVSU was also named one of America’s Greenest Universities as well as earning LEED gold status by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to Colleen Schonfield’s article “Sustainability Fair highlights efforts and opportunities.” In addition, the university is home to the only restaurant and library that are LEED certified in the state of Michigan.

More recently, campus dining has teamed up with the sustainable agriculture project to serve produce at The Connection. GVSU students are eating food that is grown by fellow students on a farm located five minutes off of campus. Eating local food has numerous benefits such as supporting the community’s economy and reducing the amount of gas needed to transport the food.

The Office of Sustainable Practices dedicated Wednesday, Nov. 19 as Campus Sustainability Day and hosted a Sustainability Fair in the Henry Hall Atrium on the Allendale Campus. The fair featured various environmental non-profit organizations and sustainability-focused campus organizations.

The Lanthorn congratulates GVSU on their sustainable success so far and encourages the university to continue to make strides to reduce our negative impact on the environment.

However, there is still work to be done, and the Laker community must constantly be aware of what they can do to make GVSU even greener. Something as simple as remembering to consistently turn off the lights in your dorm can make a huge impact on the carbon footprint of the university.

The Lanthorn encourages students to take advantage of the opportunities that GVSU has that allow for students to easily incorporate eco-friendly living into their daily lives. These include the various compost and recycling bins at campus dining locations, printing double-sided sheets on GVSU printers, refilling reusable water bottles at water fountains and other green practices that can be found around campus.