Over the years, sustainable components within Iowa State residence halls have become more prioritized, but also more natural for residence hall administration.

By installing water bottle filling stations and LED lights, along with adding recycling and sustainability chairs at residence halls, the halls are striving to become as sustainable as they can be.

Implementing these plans isn’t even a conscious decision anymore for those in charge. 

“Over the years, it’s kind of gotten built into the way we do things,” Roger Graden, associate director for facilities services, said.

Instead of the sustainable components serving as extras in residence halls, they are now a given to maintain the quality of the halls. 

In the process of building Geoffroy Hall, a new boiler chiller system was installed, and the rusty, leaky one from Buchanan Hall was removed. The new system should result in less cost and less consumption per square foot for both buildings, Graden said.

Facilities services, which uses green cleaning products, is going to put thermal pane windows in place of some current windows and plans to replace carpet in student rooms with vinyl plank flooring. Carpet squares also are being used for the easy ability to recycle them when needed.

The Simple Act, Vital Effect (SAVE) program is an example of sustainability efforts at Iowa State.

At the end of the spring semester, designated rooms are opened in residence halls for students to donate items they don’t have room to bring home or no longer want. SAVE will accept furniture, clothes, school supplies, non-perishable food items and more.

“About a week after students move out, we take all the food items to a local food pantry and all those unwanted items, futons, clothing […] to Goodwill,” said Brittney Rutherford, marketing coordinator for the Department of Residence.

SAVE was put in place to combat the amount of usable items being thrown away at the end of the academic year.

The residence hall administration also makes sure to recycle mattresses when the time comes. Rather than sending them to landfills, mattresses are taken to a facility for recycling to get the most use possible.

Megan Zeien, president of The GreenHouse Group, spends her time focusing on recycling at residence halls.

The GreenHouse Group is currently participating in Recyclemania, a tournament aimed at promoting waste reduction activities throughout college campuses.

“For eight weeks, we’ll keep track of the recycling statistics for different halls, and then at the end, whichever hall has the most recycling per person will win some sort of a prize,” Zeien said.

In addition to Recyclemania, The GreenHouse Group also encourages students to bring reusable coffee mugs to dining centers and reusable tote bags around campus to reduce the amount of plastic used.

“That first year students are living in the residence halls, that’s where you form a lot of habits and have to make decisions about how you want to live your life,” Zeien said. “I think it’s important that we encourage students to start living a green life before they go out into the world.”