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Sustainability

MSU's Sustainability Committee receives Greener North Dakota Award

Minot State University’s Sustainability Committee received the Greener North Dakota Award for its commitment to prioritizing waste reduction, recycling and spreading the word about sustainability across campus. By facilitating the ability of faculty, staff and students to reduce the campus’ ecological footprint, the committee continually strives to provide community leadership in sustainability issues, and to educate both the campus and community about sustainability issues.

The announcement of this award came at the South Dakota/North Dakota Solid Waste & Recycling Symposium in September. David Fuller, Minot State University president, will receive the Greener North Dakota Award at 2 p.m. on Oct. 14 in the Jones Room (second floor of the Student Center).

Taking the step to recycle consumer products such as office paper, magazines, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, newspaper and corrugated cardboard is something any campus or individual can do; but at Minot State University, the Sustainability Committee has gone above and beyond the standards. On its website, the committee has tips for their recycling procedures, steps to take for recycling printer and copier cartridges and how to reduce junk mail.

In 2008, the MSU Sustainability Committee received a $20,000 environmental grant from Xcel Energy’s Foundation to start a recycling project on campus. With the grant, the university addressed its campus’ need for an effective recycling program to reduce waste, provide undergraduate research and internship opportunities for students and educate students, faculty and staff about the environmental and cost savings benefits of recycling and conservation.

The Greener North Dakota Award, presented by the North Dakota Solid Waste and Recycling Association, acknowledges businesses, organizations, communities and individuals in recognition of their positive environmental efforts through solid waste management, renewable energy or pollution reduction. These entities are also recognized for making an impact on North Dakota’s environmental waste reduction goal of 40 percent, using recyclable products for manufacturing end use, job creation and keeping recyclable materials out of North Dakota’s landfills, waterways and airways.

Oct. 14, 2010