“Project Clean and Green” to minimize campus waste

Austin Walker
Staff Writer

College campuses across the United States produce roughly 2 percent of all waste in the country, but VCU is aiming to change that next semester.

This coming Spring 2015, VCU is coordinating with local organizations to implement “Project Clean & Green” to limit the amount of waste it sends to landfills.

The “Project Clean & Green” program, in coordination with the VCU Police Department, provides waste disposal options for students living in on-campus residence halls, and has previously worked with communities to disposing of waste in neighborhoods.

Situated in an urban environment, VCU faces a unique challenge in having to move their waste to landfills surrounding the city.

The programs the university put in place serve a double function of reducing VCU’s environmental impact and diminishing strain on public services.

The VCU Division of Community Engagement  coordinated with recycling organizations to go throughout the neighborhood and collect reusable and recyclable items that would otherwise go into landfills.

The initiative also brought in trucks from Goodwill that collected clothing, appliances, and miscellaneous items to be distributed to those in need, as well as providing dumpsters that would make the process of disposing of waste easier.

VCU has a long history of green initiatives. Since 1991 the university has enacted policies and reforms to reduce waste and emissions in an added attempt at progression as an institution.

The goals of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Move In/Move Out Day closely align with those of the VCU Project.  The EPA aims to decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills at the conclusion of each semester, increase recycling rates, donate items to shelters and food banks and properly dispose of hazardous waste.