Colleges across the country are working hard to become more green, adding a variety of sustainability resources to their campuses.

Georgia Southern University, Georgia State University and The University of Georgia share several resources, but some are exclusive to Georgia Southern’s Statesboro campus.

Georgia Southern

Only Georgia Southern has separate containers for approved materials, such as mixed paper, aluminum cans, cardboard and mixed metal and plastic. Georgia State and UGA use the same bins for all recyclable materials.

Georgia Southern also participates in GreenFest, which is a sustainability celebration held every year in downtown Statesboro that highlights the importance of sustainability and educates visitors about going green.

This year’s GreenFest will take place on Oct. 6. Last year, the event garnered over 1,700 visitors, Lissa Leege, director of the Center for Sustainability, said.

Georgia Southern also has numerous ways students can get involved with sustainability and going green.

“We have a whole variety of ongoing programs, like our campus community garden program, where students can grow their own food right in the middle of campus,” Leege said.

Other sustainability opportunities include a seminar series every year, where sustainability speakers from all over the country are brought in to teach Georgia Southern students about the subject, and No Impact Week, which takes place in April and stresses the importance of sustainability awareness.

Shared resources

Georgia Southern and UGA are certified Green Ribbon Schools. The Green Ribbon award, established in 2011, recognizes schools that work to make their campuses more sustainable and energy-efficient.

Both campuses have bike repair stations on their campuses for students to fix issues such as flat tires and broken chains.

All three colleges require students to pay student sustainability fees. Georgia Southern students pay $10 a semester, while Georgia State and UGA students pay $3 a semester.

Each campus has multiple recycling bins for students to discard of approved materials.

The schools also participate in RecycleMania, which is an eight-week competition every year that encourages colleges to recycle and rewards them for how high their recycling rates are.

Information about sustainability for all three schools can be found on Georgia Southern’s website, Georgia State’s website and UGA’s website.

Rachel Adams, The George-Anne News Reporter, ganewsed@georgiasouthern.edu