Historically Black Mississippi Valley State University has increased its sustainability efforts with an effort to increase the number of recycled materials on campus. For all of 2014, the university collected more than 85,000 pounds of recycled materials. In just the last six months of 2015, the university recycled nearly 50,000 pounds of materials. The largest component of the recycling effort is cardboard.
The university uses the funds it receives from recycled materials for book scholarships for university students. Lafecia Hoover, sustainability coordinator at Mississippi Valley State University notes that “75 percent of funds yielded from recycling are used for student scholarships. The other 25 percent is used to maintain our facilities.”
Due to its extensive recycling program, Mississippi Valley State University was recently ranked as one of the nation’s most eco-friendly historically Black colleges and universities by the Building Green Initiative. Others on the list of eco-friendly public HBCUs included the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Elizabeth City State University, Florida A&M University, Bowie State University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Morgan State University.
