Published May 20, 2024
CAPTION: Students donated their time and energy from April 22-25 for “Love the ULM Campus Cleanup”
sponsored by Keep ULM Beautiful.
MONROE, LA –Keep ULM Beautiful hosted “Love the ULM Campus Cleanup” from April 22-25 as part of
Love the Boot Week, Louisiana’s largest litter cleanup effort. Love the Boot Week
is organized by Keep Louisiana Beautiful and supported by the Office of the Lieutenant
Governor.
“I was surprised with how much litter we picked up along the bayou,” said Jarren Reed,
a senior biology major. “Overall, I do think ULM does a great job of keeping the campus
clean for its students.”
Participants met at Scott Plaza between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. each day to begin
the cleanup. Gloves, trash bags, and handheld grabbing tools were made available.
Participants were allowed to select an area on the campus to walk through and collect
litter.
"My group found plastics, random metals, bottles, paper, cigarettes, etc. I want to
have more events like this to help support clean ecosystems and environments,” said
Landon Littleton, a sophomore biology major. “I hope more students come out to help!”
“Over the course of the week, we had 75 participants,” said Andrew Hardee, Keep ULM
Beautiful University Affiliate Coordinator. “They collected approximately 15 30-gallon
trash bags of litter and debris and four 13-gallon trash bags of recyclable materials
from the ULM campus and Bayou Desiard.”
For more information about Love the Boot Week, visit www.lovetheboot.org.
Additionally, Keep ULM Beautiful has been awarded a Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB)
University Affiliate grant. This reimbursement grant will fund projects focused on
sustainability, waste reduction, and/or litter prevention.
The 2023-2024 Keep ULM Beautiful project, a crucial step towards the group’s mission,
involved installing water bottle filling stations in the lobbies of three traditional-style
residence halls: Madison, Ouachita, and Masur. Since their installation just under
two months ago, the filling stations have saved over 1,092 plastic bottles from entering
the trash and landfills. The Office of Residential Life will continue to replace the
filters and maintain filling stations, as well as provide ongoing education about
water conservation and plastic reduction.
About Keep ULM Beautiful
Keep ULM Beautiful, formed in October 2022, is a Keep Louisiana Beautiful University
Affiliate, which is a special mark of distinction and represents a commitment by the
university to continual improvement in sustainability and environmental issues, promoting
student environmental stewardship and engagement, and rigorous outcome measurement.
Keep ULM Beautiful will pursue opportunities to improve the campus to meet the needs
of the changing living and educational environment of students, faculty, and staff
by encouraging litter abatement, recycling, and sustainability practices.
