By Olivia Smith
For the 2019 Spring Commencement, Ohio State graduates who purchased their gowns from Barnes & Noble - The Ohio State University Bookstore are helping to save the planet.
Barnes & Noble identified and chose to stock a graduation gown made from material consisting of 100% recycled plastic bottles.
General Manager Kathy Smith has pursued this idea for a while.
“When our trusted gown vendor presented this awesome product,” she says, “we wanted to bring it to our campus.” The gowns, available for students receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees, have the same appearance as previous gowns, but the new recycled material is softer. Each gown is made from 23 post-consumer plastic bottles.
This new gown implementation aligns with Barnes & Noble’s companywide sustainability goals, adding another layer to already existing efforts. For example, the store has single stream recycling through Gateway, recycles old and unwanted text books and metal fixtures, reuses packing material, and donates used expresso beans to a student organization that uses the grounds to create facial products.
After commencement, graduates who don’t want to keep their gowns can drop them off at Barnes & Noble’s Gateway location for recycling again.
Olivia Smith is a student communications assistant at the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State.