May 31, 2012
The 2012 Yale College Reunions have gone green. For the first time, all of the 2012 Yale College Reunions have been Green Event Certified through the Yale Office of Sustainability’s Green Event Certification program. The reunions have achieved the highest level of certification, platinum, through new approaches to event planning brought about through collaborations between the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA), Yale Dining, and the Yale Office of Sustainability.
2012 Reunion Programming includes the following sustainable features:
- Transportation: We are providing more and better public transportation. Both the Reunion and the regular Yale biodiesel shuttles will be operating and will be timed to coincide with train and program schedules.
- Paper & Printing: All unavoidable printing is being done, double-sided where appropriate, on 100% recycled Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper, and as much as possible is being printed with vegetable-based inks. FSC certification guarantees that trees used to produce this paper were procured from responsibly managed forests. All left over paper and paper products will be recycled.
- Catering: Dining Services is sourcing as much local, organic produce as possible, and, where applicable, they will let us know where our food is coming from with menu identifier cards. In addition, all utensils and other tableware will either be compostable, recyclable or reusable. Collection of materials for composting will take place at each reunion location. The 25th reunion is also providing reusable water bottles for every person attending reunion, significantly reducing the use plastic bottles…less landfill for all!
In addition, all participants are encouraged to consider actions they can take to support green reunions through the AYA website.