Grand Valley celebrates Earth Day

At Grand Valley State University, every day is Earth Day. While Earth Day is celebrated across the country on April 22, the university employs green practices on a daily basis.

Most recently, Grand Valley was named one of the country’s most environmentally responsible universities in the nation by The Princeton Review for the sixth year in a row. This recognition is the result of many efforts, including the following:

• A surplus store that opened in February 2014 on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. In 2014, the store recycled 115,000 pounds of scrap metal and 5.5 tons of e-waste. 

• Grand Valley ranked sixth in the nation for composting efforts during this year’s Recyclemania, a 10-week competition among hundreds of colleges and universities across the country to collect the largest amount of recyclables and the least amount of trash. 

• Produce grown on campus is now being incorporated into meals served on campus, thanks to a new partnership between two offices on campus. In honor of Earth Day, a farm-to-table meal that incorporates produce grown at the university’s Sustainable Agriculture Project will be served today at Engrained, a campus restaurant located on the Allendale Campus. 

• New this year is the Food System Certificate program. Open to community members, the program was created in response to a growing interest from students and community members to learn about local food systems and sustainable agriculture practices. 

Visit www.gvsu.edu/sustainability to learn more.