WILLIAMSBURG — The College of William & Mary (W&M) was recognized with a state-wide award for its efforts in waste reduction work.
The award is called the “Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award,” and the announcement was made on March 29 at the 32nd Annual Environment Virginia Symposium at Virginia Military Institute (VMI).
According to VMI’s website, “The Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards recognize successful and innovative efforts that improve Virginia’s environment. The awards program is run annually by the Department of Environmental Quality in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation. There are five broad categories of awards: Sustainability, Environmental Project, Land Conservation, implementation of the Virginia Outdoors Plan; and Greening of Government.”
Part of the university’s goals for its Climate Action Roadmap, which was launched in Fall 2018 by President of W&M Katherine Rowe, is to reduce the volume of municipal waste going to the landfill by 65 percent.
These efforts are a part of W&M’s big picture goal to make their campus carbon neutral by 2030.
W&M has set up campus-wide composting in addition to the use of alternative materials. The school has compost bins at 10 locations across its campus in addition to recycling.
The composts are processed by an industrial facility in Waverly, Virginia and the compost credits are used to have compost delivered to various locations including the university’s campus and local farm partnerships.
More information on W&M’s Climate Action Roadmap and its Sustainability plan can be found on its website.
