Five Eco-Friendly Service Projects

There are a variety of worthy causes college students choose to serve while in school. From hunger prevention and disaster relief to illness awareness and others, college students come together every day to make powerful change in their communities and the world.

Given the wide variety of important service opportunities available, environmental projects sometimes fall to the bottom of the priority list.

Even though environmental service might not seem impactful or significant, every small effort counts toward ensuring a healthier and more beautiful world.

If you’re interested in serving the environment but aren’t sure how to begin, here are a few project ideas to get you started.

1. Clean up a local park.

Parks are beautiful sanctuaries where wildlife can flourish, but they don't stay beautiful by themselves. Volunteers often assist park staff in keeping these areas healthy and litter-free.

If your college or university is located near a park, get in touch with the park’s volunteer coordinator to set up a park cleanup day. Whether you’ll be cleaning the park alone or with friends or club members, restoring a park’s natural beauty can lend itself to a very rewarding day.

2. Hold a recycling event.

For many people, one of the negatives of recycling is its lack of convenience. There typically aren’t as many recycling facilities available as there are for trash, and even if there are recycling receptacles on hand, they are usually for specific materials only.

Commonly recycled items such as paper and plastic can be recycled relatively easily. However, other materials such as glass aren’t as easy to recycle, leading many people to throw them in the trash.

To encourage fellow students and others at your school to recycle more materials, hold a recycling event on campus for the collection of all kinds of recyclable items. Then, if possible, work with the leaders of your school to give students more opportunities to recycle more materials.

3. Landscape on campus.

Colleges often employ groundskeepers to maintain plant life on campus, but with such a large amount of ground to cover, it can be difficult for these professional landscapers to do the job without a little help from student volunteers.

Getting a group together for a day full of weed pulling, flower planting and hedge clipping will not only make a noticeable difference in the aesthetic appeal of your school, but it will also create a more healthy home for campus wildlife.

In addition, your school’s hard-working groundskeepers will surely appreciate your effort.

4. Start a compost.

This is one environmentally friendly project that is often overlooked, but it is extremely beneficial to the environment.

Composting involves transforming everyday waste into a nutrient-rich material that is nourishing to soil and plant life. Not only does this help vegetation, but it also prevents unnecessary waste from piling up in a landfill.

5. Promote environmental awareness.

Though many people are probably familiar with the phrase, "reduce, reuse, and recycle," there are many aspects of environmental health that aren't common knowledge.

One way to educate your fellow students about the environment is by distributing fliers, posters or pamphlets. You can do a little research and create these materials yourself, or you can try to find pre-made awareness materials that are free for you to use and distribute.

No matter how you choose to spread the word about environmental health, a little awareness can go a long way.

I encourage you to start or participate in an environmental service project in the future, if you haven’t already. The environment will thank you.

For more philanthropy articles and other posts, visit my HonorSociety.org blog.