Carleton College
IN-27: Innovation D

Carleton's graduation ceremony concludes with lunch for all students and their guests, about 4,000 people each year. Working with the Director of Events, Custodial Services, Dining Services, and the Sustainability Office, we were able to divert 97% of the waste from that event from the landfill, making it 'zero waste.' This program has been zero waste for the past few years, but recently it was taken to a new level by not providing bottled water to guests, but rather having water filling stations and encouraging guests to bring their own drinking container (there were compostable cups available for those who did not have a container). In 2018, we also collected unwanted graduation gowns that went to TRIO for students who may need financial assistance to purchase a gown. This effort had four pieces: 1. Pre-planning: Language in the program for our efforts, coordination with all groups. 2. Product selection: All compostable or recyclable items 3. Education: Custodial Waste Busters working each waste station telling guests where to put their waste, including food recovery for the food shelf and proper signage throughout the space. 4. Recording data and reporting information out.