Sustainability

Seattle U is a National Leader in Sustainability Programs and Practices

2018 AASHE STARS Gold Seal

Seattle U was ranked #2 nationally among universities for its sustainability curriculum in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (ASHE) 2019 Sustainable Campus Index, and #4 nationally as an overall top performer among master’s institutions.

Seattle University achieved a Gold rating for sustainability from the AASHE 2019 Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS).

Sierra Magazine Cool Schools 2021 Top 20 badge

Seattle University continued its run of top rankings for sustainability by once again being named a Sierra Cool School for 2021. It earned a spot in Sierra magazine’s Top 20, placing #14 of 328 colleges and universities—the top 4 percent overall—that participated in the latest survey of sustainability practices. Seattle U is the only university in the Northwest to place in the top group.

The Princeton Review Guide to Green Schools Top 50 2021

Seattle University ranked #16 in the Princeton Review's 2021 Green Honor Roll of the top 50 colleges that earned the highest scores by the publication for their sustainability efforts.

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  • In 2015, Seattle U became a Fair Trade designated university.
  • The campus has been maintained organically and without pesticides or herbicides since 1998.
  • Nearly 69 percent of campus waste is recycled, reused or composted. Seattle University’s onsite Composting facility annually turns 178,000 pounds of pre-consumer food waste into compost, which is reused on campus to improve soil quality.
  • In 2010, Seattle University became the first higher education institution in the state to ban the sale and distribution of plastic bottled water.