Penn State marked a major sustainability milestone during Welcome Week with its first-ever zero-waste New Student Convocation Dinner, held Aug. 23 across five University Park dining halls. Nearly 9,000 first-year students were served a mix of dine-in and takeout meals using compostable and recyclable materials. Thanks to the efforts of 339 resident advisers (RAs), every item was properly sorted into compost or recycling streams 鈥� resulting in zero bags of contaminated waste and successfully diverting all post-consumer waste from the landfill.
鈥淭his marks, to the best of my knowledge, Penn State鈥檚 first zero post-consumer waste convocation event,鈥� said Haley Sankey, ABS director of Sustainability. 鈥淭his was a tremendous team effort led by Housing and Food Services, and made possible through the collaboration with Residence Life and the dedication of every single RA. This success shows what we can achieve when we work together. I can’t wait to build on this momentum in future sustainability initiatives.鈥�
One of the key contributors to the event鈥檚 success was the use of aluminum water and soda cans, which are considered infinitely recyclable 鈥� meaning they can be recycled repeatedly without losing quality or strength. This makes aluminum a more sustainable alternative to single-use plastics, which often end up in landfills or littering our waterways.