Five ways The Beach made Commencement 2025 more sustainable
Commencement is always a time of excitement and celebration for our Beach community and this year the university took steps to make it the greenest graduation season yet! Here are 5 ways that partners across CSULB integrated eco-friendly practices into commencement and inspired graduates to continue prioritizing sustainability in their future endeavors.
1. Hosting greener graduation events
In the weeks leading up to commencement, several events targeted towards grads took place that either incorporated sustainable practices or were explicitly focused on sustainability. For example, at the Senior Send-Off event hosted at the Anna W. Ngai Alumni Center, a dinner was served using real plates and glasses to minimize waste and compost bins were placed at the event to collect food waste and prevent it from going to landfill. Additionally, Sustain U hosted the “Designing a Sustainable Graduation” event where students learned how to craft eco-friendly decorations and confetti to use in graduation photos and celebrations.
2. Eliminating plastic cups at commencement
At past commencement ceremonies, Angel Stadium provided plastic cups so that graduates could stay hydrated during and after the procession. This small convenience resulted in approximately 10,000 pieces of single-use plastic waste being generated by the graduates. This is one of the reasons that the Commencement team, who recently completed the Green Events Program training, worked with the stadium to acquire unlined paper cups, which can be recycled, unlike typical paper cups that are lined with plastic or wax. This small change significantly decreases the amount of non-recyclable waste generated during the ceremonies.
3. Switching to digital programs
Another waste reduction strategy that might seem small but has made a huge impact was switching from printed to digital programs. The commencement team made the shift three years ago and hasn’t looked back. Besides creating a zero-waste alternative to paper programs, this change saves the campus more than $40,000 each year!
4. Piloting a graduation gown donation and reuse program
Recognizing that graduation gowns don’t have much of a use after commencement and tend to end up hanging in the closet for years, the Offices of Belonging and Inclusion, Basic Needs, Sustainability, and Alumni Relations teamed up to pilot a graduation gown donation and reuse program. Recent grads and alumni are invited to stop by the Anna W. Ngai Alumni Center from June 2-13, Monday-Friday from 8AM-5PM, to drop off their gowns. The gowns will be cleaned and stored until next year when they will be made available to students through the Basic Needs Office. For doing their part to help students save money on graduation expenses while also helping to reduce waste and environmental impacts, grads and alumni who donate gowns will receive a Beach Alumni license plate frame as a thank you gift!
5. Encouraging students to take the “Green Grad Pledge”
To encourage students to commit to prioritizing sustainability during commencement season and beyond, the Office of Sustainability developed the Green Grad campaign. The core of the campaign is the Green Grad Pledge, a commitment to promoting and advocating for sustainability in their future careers and workplaces. Students are also asked to commit to using biodegradable confetti when taking grad photos, and exploring a webpage created to help them learn about green jobs related to their majors. Students who signed the pledge were entered into an opportunity drawing for a professional photoshoot. More than 340 students signed the pledge this year and five were chosen to participate in the photoshoot.
Although these actions may seem small, the potential impact they make can be exponential as our graduates go out into the world and model the values of sustainability they learned here at The Beach! Congrats class of 2025!
