Recycling

The university recycled 147,000 pounds in 2015, and you can help us divert even more waste from the landfill. Please recycle by placing accepted materials into the containers located across campus.

Green Building & Planning

New buildings on campus are designed to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards as defined by the U.S. Green Building Council.

USD Leed Buildings

Green Product Purchasing

The university follows State of South Dakota policies and procedures for purchasing green products:

• Paper Products & Printing
  Institutions shall specify products that meet at least one of the following requirements when procuring any paper product or requesting bids or quotes for any printing project: (1) Green Seal certified; (2) Ecologo certified; or (3) Comply with the minimum requirements for recycled content as published in the United States Environmental Protection Agency Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines.
• Cleaning and Maintenance Products
  Institutions shall specify products that meet at least one of the following requirements when procuring any cleaning or maintenance product: (1) Green Seal certified; (2) Ecologo certified; (3) Designated for preferred procurement through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Designed for the Environment Safer Product Labeling Program by meeting the requirements of the EPA's DfE Standard for Safer Cleaning Products (SSCP); (4) Determined to be biobased products using ASTM Method D6866, 10 Standard Test Methods for Determining the Biobased Content of Solid, Liquid, and Gaseous Samples Using Radiocarbon Analysis. (5) Certified as meeting or exceeding any of the other requirements listed in this section by an independent and knowledgeable third party based on standardized test procedures.
• Electronic Products
  Institutions shall specify products that meet at least one of the following requirements when procuring energy consuming products:(1) Energy Star qualified; (2) Green Seal certified; or (3) Ecologo certified.

President's Committee on Sustainability

Submit the following form to help us in our commitment to the environment by offering your comments, suggestions or volunteer time to the President's Committee on Sustainability.