Babson’s degree candidates will be wearing green this year, although not the color.

In line with Babson’s efforts at promoting environmental sustainability, the cap and gowns this year will be made with 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. On average, 23 bottles go into making each one.

But don’t worry, they aren’t stiff or scratchy; each bottle is melted down and formed into a multitude of fibrous strands, similar to other synthetic fibers like nylon or polyester.

This is just one of the many steps that are being put into place to make this year’s graduation ceremony the most environmentally friendly to date.

Other improvements include:
• Babson diplomas are being printed on cotton parchment made from recovered textile waste as opposed to the normal tree-fiber paper that needs new trees to be felled in order to be produced.

• Recycled paper will be used in all commencement programs, booklets, tickets, etc, whenever possible and e-communication is being used to reduce the amount of paper consumption. This further reduces the amount of new paper created as a result of commencement activities.

• Biodegradable cups, plates, napkins and utensils will be used for all commencement catering. This reduces the amount of time that commencement eating materials will be in landfills.

• Water stations with biodegradable cups will be deployed to reduce plastic water bottle usage. Plastic bottles are created using petroleum refinery by-products; reducing water bottle consumption reduces our dependency on fossil fuels and reduces landfill waste.

This effort, combined with Babson’s other efforts towards environmental sustainability including trayless Trim and energy/resource conservation efforts, are making Babson a leader in the green movement.
For more information on Babson’s green efforts, visit https://fusionmx.babson.edu/Babson_Environmental_Sustainability_Survey_2008.pdf and check in with the Babson Freep for updates.

~ Daniel Muise