Going Green. It’s only been a campaign at Creighton for two years, but it certainly has been a major part of the newest additions on campus. There have been major changes at the university, mainly in food services and in the placing of recycling bins in various buildings. While this is no doubt a step in the right direction, some on campus still believe there is much more room for improvement.
This month, Creighton received a grade from the Sustainable Endowments Institute on how the campus is making steps towards becoming a green campus. For the 2010 grade, the university received an overall grade of a D+, which was actually lower than last year’s C-. The changes noted in this year’s report were lower grades in student involvement, transportation, and “green” building.
But many at Creighton insist that students are making a significant impact in the process and that all of the new buildings on campus are required to be built with green standards.
The main group promoting recycling and green activities on campus has been the Sustainability Council, a group set up to monitor the progress of the university as well as voice student concerns. The group has been a common source for the organizations interested in sustainability around campus.
Lennis Pederson, Director of Facilities Management, explained that the Council has been encouraging activity to different initiatives of individual groups.
“The Sustainability Council is a tool that can communicate actions of sustainability on campus … and has a list serve that sends information to interested individuals”, said Pederson.
The main actions of the council are essentially a combination of different groups around campus communicating together.
“The groups are asked to report at the monthly council when their schedules allow,” said Pederson.
The current main aspect of going green on campus is the single stream recycling program. The distinction between this and a regular recycling program is that the single stream program combines all types of recyclable items together, instead of having to separate different items from each other. This gives more incentive for students to recycle by making the process easier. Pederson said the best evidence of student’s involvement has been the improvement of recycling in the residence halls.
To address other issues, Creighton is collaborating with the city of Omaha to put together a collection point at the corner of 22nd and Cuming streets.
“The collection point is for those students that do not have convenient recycling at their respective off-campus dwellings,” said Pederson.
As for the problems implementing the problem, the single stream recycling hasn’t been able to be used at full value because of Creighton’s tight budget in the current economy, explains Pederson. The other issue is that materials that can’t be recycled are still being thrown in recycling, which negates the purpose of the single stream process. But Pederson is hopeful the program will keep growing thanks to Creighton students.
“The single stream recycling program is working because people on campus are committed to making the cultural change,” he said.
As for students, many voiced their opinions on Creighton going green, agreeing that it is a step in the right direction.
“I think its great that so many students are passionate about it because it is a great cause, but I would like to see it in all of the buildings around campus,” said Anne Langhorst, Arts & Sciences junior.
Others explained that while they haven’t seen a major improvement yet they believe it will be very beneficial.
“I haven’t noticed any big changes around campus, but I think its good that we recycle,” said Arts & Sciences junior Mallory Cato.