From a partnership with Keep Louisiana Beautiful to weekly farmer’s markets, Loyola continually makes efforts to make our campus a more environmentally-conscious community.
Recycling Efforts & Keep Louisiana Beautiful partnership
If you’ve ever stepped on Loyola’s campus, you’ve seen recycling bins at nearly every corner of the campus.
These paw print bins were added to campus in 2016, but since then, Loyola’s efforts to encourage the pack to recycle haven’t stifled.
In 2022, Loyola became a Keep Louisiana Beautiful university affiliate, where it had to conduct a waste audit, litter survey and assessment, form an affiliate leadership committee, design an affiliate logo, create a work plan, and participate in “Love the Boot Week” – which Loyola accomplished during its annual Earth week celebration.
Since then, recycling cans with graphic labels that glean “Let LA shine” have been scattered around campus for student use.
In February, Loyola’s partnership with KLB expanded to include glass recycling, which was made possible by a $4,800 grant from the nonprofit.
Farmer’s Markets
Loyola-Sodexo hosts bi-weekly farmer’s markets in the “fish bowl,” or the Danna Center courtyard. The market features a variety of affordable fresh produce items for the Loyola community to purchase for less than $5. Along with produce sales, other vendors sell products which include cookies from local troops of Girl Scouts of the USA and boba tea from Moon Garden.
In addition to vendors, attendees are able to taste sample foods by Loyola Dining chefs. At the Earth Week market on April 26, attendees will be able to make their own edible plants and see a cooking demo.
Community Garden
The student government association funded a community garden, which will be planted around the Tom and Gayle Benson Jesuit Center once construction is complete. The garden will be maintained by the environmental department and provide fresh produce for Iggy’s cupboard.
Crawfish Composting
This semester, SGA Senator at Large Rowan Sawyer passed a bill to introduce crawfish composting on campus, wherein crawfish would be composted for soil. SGA provided bins at “Crawfish in the Quad” for crawfish connoisseurs to sustainably dispose of their crawfish shells.
Mardi Gras Bead Drive
SGA’s sustainability committee partners with ArcGNO to provide bead recycling bins in residence halls during Mardi Gras to reduce bead waste.
Water Filling Stations
Over a decade ago, Loyola introduced water bottle filling stations around campus with the efforts of former SGA president Khaled Badr and Bob Thomas, director of the center for environmental communication.
Reusable Cups Accepted at Campus Starbucks
Earlier this year, Starbucks became the one of the first national coffee retailers to accept reusable cups, and the Starbucks at Loyola is no exception.
LEED Certification for Buildings
All new construction and renovations on campus intend to meet Silver LEED Certification or better.
In 2012, after renovations, Thomas Hall received LEED gold certification for its environmental sustainability components per the U.S. Green Building Council. The Law School, located on the Broadway campus, has achieved LEED silver certification.
LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a certification developed by the USGBC to set a benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED Gold is the second highest level of achievement by the USGBC and Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI).
