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There’s a lot going on with sustainability on Millersville’s campus. A new garden, TerraCycling program and a new chair for the Millersville University Sustainability Committee, Dr. Nadine Garner, associate professor of psychology, are all part of the University’s efforts to continue sustainability on campus.
As chair, Garner, who is founder and director of the Center for Sustainability, will prepare and monitor a climate action plan for the University, develop and sponsor educational programs, regularly alert the campus of the progress and develop subcommittees to fill the mission of the committee.
Garner and the Center for Sustainability also actively participate in TerraCycle, a program that pays $.01 to $10 for garbage items. TerraCycle helps pay for surgeries for children with cleft lips and cleft palates through a nonprofit organization called Smile Train.
According to Garner, TerraCycle is an international company that recycles things like toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, shampoo bottles and old flip flops that are not normally part of a municipal recycling stream. To learn more about the TerraCycle program, watch Millersville’s brief video.
“What we do here at MU, we do under the slogan ‘It takes a village to save a child,’ because the residence halls have been collecting a tremendous amount of garbage,” said Garner. “I tell them I don’t want your money, I don’t want your time, just give me your garbage. I know the college students are short on the first two.”
To kick off the launch of the ’Ville-age Garden, an organic vegetable, herb and flower garden, Millersville’s Center for Sustainability recently hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony and harvest lunch on October 24.
“The ’Ville-age Garden will help continue our reputation as one of the top ‘green’ colleges in the United States,” said Garner. Millersville, along with other universities across the country, earned a spot back in May in the Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges for its sustainability efforts and environmental projects.
The garden, located behind the Huntingdon House, was developed by the Millersville University community and Garner, who is also director of the Center for Sustainability. Students will have the opportunity to grow their own organic produce, and a portion of it will be donated to the campus food bank in the spring.
The center has also created a partner garden at Wheatland Middle School. The permaculture garden brings Millersville University garden mentors to the School District of Lancaster to teach children how to grow their own food.
For more information on the ’Ville-age Garden visit Millersville’s Center for sustainability .
