Building Interiors
Green Cleaning
WVU considers environmental impact, efficacy, and cost effectiveness when evaluating cleaning products. The Operations team:
- Reduced number of different cleaning products from over 120 to less than 20.
- Installed automatic chemical dilution systems in custodial closets to safely dispense cleaning products and reduce packaging. Aerosol cleaners have been reduced by over 90% with use of these systems.
- Utilizes recycled content paper towels and toilet paper in restrooms.
- Utilizes recycled content liners for landfill and recycling bins.
- Saves over 4,500 rolls of paper towels per year by utilizing microfiber cleaning cloths that can be laundered over 500 times. The microfiber program also extends to wet mops, dust mops, and hand dusters.
Indoor Air Quality, Low-VOC Paints and Furnishings
- Oil-based and aerosol paints make up only 5% of paints used on campus 95% of paints are low-VOC products.
- Many of WVU's standard furniture collections utilize low-VOC coatings. 33 out of 40 most commonly purchased furniture items have third-party sustainability certifications.
- WVU is a smoke-free campus inside buildings and outdoors.
Grounds
- The managed campus acreage in Morgantown is managed with principles from Integrated Pest Management (IPM), meaning that chemicals are applied as a last resort when other methods have failed to address issues.
- Perennial plant species that are native to our region's climate are used in many planting beds. the university also maintains a 'do not plant' list unsuccessful species and actively manages invasive species.
- WVU has been recognized as a Tree Campus Higher Education institution since 2018. Tree Campus requires a tree care plan, involving students in tree work, and dedicated expenditures on campus trees. Visit the Tree Campus page for more.
- Low-mow areas have been established on several steep banks on campus. These areas are only mowed a few times per year, instead of weekly on typical lawn areas.
- Roads and Grounds utilizes a brine solution for de-icing in winter months which significantly reduced the amount of salt used.