People generally do what they can to recycle, fight climate change, and save the planet. For those who believe scientific evidence, it’s part of the culture.

But the sustainability struggle can be frustrating, in part because individual efforts seem so meager. So, institutions that are making measurable progress are good news. Neumann is one such story.

The university won the per capita recycling prize in the 2024 Campus Race to Zero Waste competition. The contest included 150 colleges across the country, and Neumann won by recycling 47.4 pounds of material for every person on campus -- the best per capita total among all participating colleges, regardless of size. In 2023, Neumann won the same prize in the small campus division.

In 2023, the Catholic Climate Covenant recognized Neumann University as one of the top three Catholic campuses in the country for climate action and environmental sustainability.

Two years ago, Neumann hired a more expensive trash removal service to prevent its waste from being sent to Covanta, a huge trash incinerator in Chester, a nearby city with a majority of Black residents.

In the fall of 2023, the administration canceled the campus shuttle bus service to reduce carbon emissions and budget expenditures. The fleet of university vehicles was cut from 23 to 19.

Neumann has a 24-member Sustainability Council that includes William Leonard, director of facilities, and Rita Webster, general manager of dining services. Its co-chairs are Sr. Patricia Hutchison, Dr. Etsuko Hoshino-Browne, and Jessica Webster.

The college has added a Studies in Sustainability Minor to its curriculum, spearheaded by James Kain, director of the liberal arts program.

The proposed 98,108-square-foot Ed Snider Ice Arena will be LEED certified as a healthy, efficient, green building, and the Mirenda Center, the university’s main athletic facility, is also LEED certified.

The dining hall regularly offers vegetarian/vegan/plant-based food options. According to Rita Webster, “Sixty-five of the food we provide is vegetarian. About half of that is vegan.” There is always a salad bar and a fruit and yogurt bar. On Less Meat Mondays, Sodexo offers more pasta and vegetable selections at the dinner hour.

Neumann has been a member of AASHE (the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, https://www.aashe.org/about-us/) since 2021.

On-campus lectures, films and discussions regularly address climate, the environment, and sustainability.

Not bad for a small college on 133 acres in Aston.