GVSU receives award from Keep Michigan Beautiful

Grand Valley received an award October 18 from Keep Michigan Beautiful for community development initiatives and projects in the area of sustainability.

Norman Christopher, director of the Sustainable Community Development Initiative, and Kimberly Schoetzow, graduate assistant for SCDI, accepted the award during a reception in Ann Arbor.

Keep Michigan Beautiful is an affiliate of the national organization, Keep America Beautiful, and annually recognizes programs and activities that contribute to environmental clean-up, beautification, site restoration and historical preservation.

The application that was submitted for the award detailed Grand Valley’s efforts in waste minimization, including waste audits, energy reduction competitions, the Eco-Rep Program and the zero-waste football games.

Schoetzow said last year, students composted nearly 30,000 pizza boxes and diverted nearly 60 percent of waste from the landfill at the homecoming football game.