With the new school year upon us, and new football season (GO IRISH!), I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how colleges are doing their part to keep the environment clean. Considering that colleges were some of the first places to widely adopt recycling, and even today many institutions take back used paper, electronics, and batteries, it should come as no surprise that the sustainability movement is front and center on many campuses.

On some college campuses they even have “free stores”, where students can swap gently used items, which promote reuse. Green building is also proving quite popular on many major campuses nationwide. Green building is allowing new or modified structures to lower energy and water bills. There are many colleges which are using local organic foods in their cafeterias, while promoting biking and walkability, while using non-toxic materials, reducing waste and much much more.

Taking care of the environment has become such an important issue, that most colleges provide information on their environmental initiatives page on their websites. With the nations colleges and universities taking initiatives to better the environment now, we can only hope that it will continue and improve for a healthier, better tomorrow.