Valparaiso University Promotes Sustainability and Reduces Waste Across Campus

Students at Valparaiso University are taking major steps in stewardship of the environment and keeping unnecessary waste out of landfills. These include a third year of participation in the Campus Race to Zero Waste program, a new, potentially cost-saving composting initiative, “Green Games” at athletic events, and more. 

For the third year in a row, Valparaiso University will participate in the Campus Race to Zero Waste program, which encourages participating schools across the United States and Canada to divert waste away from landfills and into recycling programs. After the University’s impressive showings in the 2023 and 2024 contests, including a first-place win in the Zero Waste Case Study Category, Valpo has some big goals for this year.

“My goal is to get to 35-percent diversion of waste across campus,” Tyler Kuss ’25, an integrated business and engineering major, said. “Right now, we’re at about 20-percent recycling and six-percent composting, but the rest is trash.” 

Part of meeting that goal is expanding composting efforts at the University. In August of 2024, Valpo began working with food waste transport company Denali and Green Era in Chicago. Green Era specializes in transforming food waste — even food packaged in plastic — into fertilizer and natural gas.  Since its inception, the initiative has diverted 20,000 pounds of food waste from campus dining facilities. 

With garbage collection services charging by weight, and food being some of the heaviest items to be thrown away, it is hoped that this program will grow to the point of creating significant cost-savings for the University as a whole. 

“Right now, we get about a ton of food waste out of there per-week,” Kuss said. “But if we can get that up to two or three tons, the program will pay for itself, reduce costs, and help the environment.” 

Another initiative begun this year has been the “Green Games” program, where volunteers assist spectators at home football and basketball games with disposing of their waste and keeping recyclable and compostable material out of the garbage. 

“It’s been really great. For football in particular, by the end of the season, people were waiting for us to come around with our blue bags, and saving up all their stuff from tailgating until we got there in the morning,” Kuss said. “Even visiting schools called it a great idea.”

During its first run for a basketball game in January, the program managed to divert 95-percent of the waste, leaving only eight pounds of trash by the end of the event. 

Valpo’s sustainability efforts provide numerous opportunities for students, as well as the rest of the campus community, to get involved with reducing the amount of waste they produce. These include assistance with waste disposal during move-in and move-out days, single-use coffee pod recycling, and plastic film recycling. 

Sustainability has been part of Valparaiso University’s overall service initiatives described in its five-year plan Uplift Valpo: Our Beacon for the Journey Forward. For more information on the University’s previous involvement in the Race to Zero Waste and other sustainability efforts, see one of our previous stories here.