WCU recognized as a green college
Recycling and sustainability success at WCU is partially a result of good communication about shared responsibility, say members of the student group Eco CATS. WCU photo
For the eighth year running, Western Carolina University has been named one of North America’s most environmentally responsible colleges by The Princeton Review.
WCU’s repeated recognition is partially due to its multi-tiered, comprehensive approach to recycling and wise energy use. Over the past year, WCU has joined Carolina Airkeepers, a citizen science network from the advocacy group Clean Air Carolina, installing air quality monitors on campus and at the Highlands Biological Station in Highlands to detect weather fluctuations and particle pollution.
WCU also makes it a point to recycle or reuse materials when buildings are demolished or renovated, and works to make its buildings as energy-efficient as possible.
In the national higher education waste reduction and recycling competition RecycleMania, WCU ranked eighth in recycling per person and fifth in total recycling among North Carolina colleges, and in 2018 it ranked first in food waste and second in cardboard and paper recycling. The university’s recycling volume has increased by 85 percent in the past five years, while energy usage has been reduced by 42 percent in the past 15 years.
WCU has been listed in The Princeton Review’s Guide to 399 Green Colleges since 2010. Its recycling and energy-wise initiatives are led by the Office of Sustainability and Energy Management and the university’s Sustainable Energy Initiative, a committee composed of students, faculty and staff advisors.
