Graduates can choose a more sustainable route. (image: NCSU)
After years of working in the graduation industry, I saw firsthand the amount of new gowns that were sold each year. Specifically, high school and collegiate graduates wear more than five million graduation gowns annually. This number is only growing with the onset of kindergarten, fifth and eighth grade graduation ceremonies across the U.S.
Graduation gowns used to be constructed from cotton and then rented for the big day.
But over the past 30 years, the scholastic industry transitioned from cotton to polyester, the popular petroleum-based fabric of the 1970s (think leisure suit). Polyester is constructed out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the same chemical compound used to make plastic water bottles. This product has been positioned as a ‘one-time’ use or ‘keepsake’ item, when the product has only been worn for 90 minutes. In that 30-year time period, over 100 million gowns have been added to the waste stream, which causes detrimental problems to the environment.
Eco-Friendly Graduation Gowns Still End Up Getting Trashed
Seth Yon, founder of Greener Grads, helps grads reuse their graduation gowns, instead of trashing them in landfills.
The idea of reusing gowns came to me after attending a graduation where the students wore gowns made from recycled water bottles, which I thought was a solution to polyester and much more sustainable. But I watched in horror as the students tossed the gowns into the trash following the ceremony. The truth is that discarding these ‘eco-friendly’ gowns is no different than discarding ones made from virgin polyester ones. Studies have shown that it can take approximately 450 years for ONE plastic water bottle to begin decomposition in the perfect environment, including direct sunlight, optimal soil composition and water levels, etc. – a specific and delicate combination that can never be fully achieved in a landfill.
Gowns Made from Renewable Materials are not ‘Biodegradable’.
An alternate to polyester, acetate gowns made from wood-based cellulose may be made from natural materials, but they will not readily biodegrade in landfills, as some manufacturers claim. For more on the issue, see this op-ed piece in the LA TIMES. Recycling the gowns made from recycled polyester is an option, but it’s better for the environment if all gowns are simply reused again and again.
Greener Grads Collects, Rents, Reuses and Repurposes Existing Gowns
With Greener Grads, after each graduation, the gowns that we collect are steam cleaned and pressed, ready to rent to the next graduates. Each gown is bar-coded to track its travels in order to share with subsequent graduates where it’s been worn. And each gown can be rented 12 to 15 times before it’s time to consider repurposing. Polyester is a strong material that can be used for fill material and can be recycled after its wearing capability expires.
We launched on Earth Day 2014 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the goal of collecting 10,000 gowns.
That goal quickly grew with the plan to recover, reuse and repurpose one million graduation gowns by the end of 2015, which will prevent 588,235 gallons of oil from being used to produce new gowns.
So far we’ve partnered with Goodwill Industries of West Michigan, Aquinas College, Berea College, Kendall College of Art and Design, Michigan Green Schools, Susan G. Komen of West Michigan, University of Louisville and the West Michigan Environmental Action Council.
While our goal may be a bit ambitious, so I need your help to keep as many graduation gowns out of landfills as possible this graduation season. Please spread the word about Greener Grads. If you are a student, staff or faculty member interested in joining our cause, please comment below or get in touch with us directly to organize a gown collection event.
Do You Remember What You Did with Your Graduation Gown?
Is it still sitting in a dusty box in the attic or did it end up in the trash? How can we ‘graduate’ from trashing gowns to reusing them? How can we turn this into a national movement this year and every other ?
Posting Guideline – Stories published on WeHateToWaste.com are intended to stimulate productive conversations about practical solutions for preventing waste. Information provided and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributors and implies no endorsement or guarantee by WeHateToWaste.
Related Posts via Categories
I grew up in France where we didn’t have graduation ceremonies. I think those are enormous wastes of time and MONEY (you get the “privilege” of dressing up like a clown to listen to a bunch of people who probably don’t mean anything to you to then walk across a stage for 10 seconds to get an empty diploma holder (because your real diploma isn’t even in there) and your family members get to spend even more money to attend this pointless ceremony!). Where I come from, you used to go to a hall where the results of the exams were posted. This is how you found out if you passed your exams and how well you did (i.e graduated) or not. Then you got your diploma in the mail. Not sure how they do it now. Not sure why, over here, everything has to be made into a show.
My kids were aghast at how much it all cost. The two who have already graduated only participated because their dad pressured them to (and purchased their attire for them) but the 2nd one did reuse the gown from the first one. The next 2 kids have already said they don’t want to attend their ceremonies. I’d rather put the money toward something else that will actually benefit them.
Instead of trying to get people to recycle them, you should start a movement to get people to ban them altogether. It’s a waste on every level. At the very least, students should be able to wear business attire instead of looking like doofuses in robes and bath caps. Ugh.
Nathalie,
You’re right! Graduation robes likely harken back to the days of Oxford dons, etc. — and when the professors wore such robes every day to class.
It would be very interesting to do a little digging and understand the cultural significance of the caps and gowns. And importantly, if they serve some kind of function in addition to helping us identify the graduates in a crowd, and distinguish, perhaps among graduates of different schools and departments – that one last bit of institutional identification before school ended. Symbolically, I suppose the gowns ‘connected’ one’s class to the presumably generations of classes before. One is now on par with one’s predecessors, worthy to be called a Your U grad. (And perhaps they served, like uniforms, to put all graduates on an equal footing and helped graduates stave off the cost of a fancy suit or dress? (Shades of my high school graduation coming back… pressure to buy a suitable white dress!)
But what if we took this concept literally and graduates wore the actual robes of their predecessors? Robes would be designed to endure, be passed down class to class, generation to generation. Perhaps they could even be numbered, with a directory available in the library letting you know who wore that gown before you! (Imagine that!) Then there would be additional significance, and perhaps the investment in resources justified.
But until graduates understand better the significance of the gown, our continued trashing of them as a society merely trashes the potential to truly elevate the experience of graduation.
Yeah we don’t have any of that hooh hah in Norway either, but I took a bachelors in Australia and I must admit it was kinda fun! I think most people rented their gowns down there tho, I know I did.
It’s most def a waste of resources for everyone to buy one tho! Super silly.
In Australia, the Universities organise for you to hire your gowns through them, and they tell you that is your only option if you want the correct gown and hood colour. Unfortunately, this has meant that the Universities have a sort of monopoly on the gown rental industry and have been charging exuberant prices – my university charged $90! This has caused a few small companies to pop-up that are selling gowns to students at a much lower price, but this now creates a waste problem. When I graduated, I opted for the cheaper price of purchasing my gown, but I am now left with the problem of what to do with it! Maybe there is becoming increasing opportunity for organisations like Greener Grads in Australia.
Ahh!! This is awesome. I was so frustrated at my graduation when I noticed this happening. My high school lent us gowns and then we gave them back – which I think is also a possibility for schools. But in college we bought them and then had to hold on to them or throw them out. The only part people usually keep as a keepsake is the hat anyways. Should we also work to ask schools to keep an inventory of gowns, as my high school does? That way each school can keep their colors and styles in line but allow for the reuse of gowns? If that’s not already been considered, of course, I can’t tell. Less money would be handled in that kind of a transaction too.
Love this – never knew grad gowns were wasted in the way they are!
As a recent graduate, with his gown sitting at home, I think this is phenomenal! Why not save money on gowns (costs at schools are already insane so every penny counts!), reuse it so it doesn’t go to waste and finally I think it is a way to grow school spirit (for schools that had no sustainability agendas in the past this is a easy way to get started).
My University (U. of Western Ontario) provided the graduation gowns and they were then given back and used again for the next graduating class.
This was in 1964. I think we reused and repaired a lot more then, than we do now.
Please contact me regarding the possibility of setting up gown collection; I am affiliated with a small college in Wisconsin. Thanks!
This is a fantastic idea! As a recent graduate, I know that my cap and gown are not going to do much sitting in my closet where they are currently residing. I work at my university’s bookstore and we sell the cap and gowns for graduation. Unfortunately we do not rent them to students due to the fact that many of the caps and gowns are not returned after the ceremonies. However, I believe that some kind of repurposing cycle would be extremely beneficial! Students are constantly complaining about the costs of the cap and gown packages (which are often upwards of $85). If we were able to implement a way to repurpose our caps and gowns this would save resources, energy, money and time. I understand that many students want to keep their regalia for a keepsake. However, the bigger picture must be looked at. I would be very interested in renting a recycled/repurposed cap and gown to be able to see where it has been and who has wore it! I would be motivated by seeing those statistics to be able to think of all the other individuals who have accomplished so much.
I suspect the Universities make $ out of selling graduation apparel.
Why not a central service which supplies the caps and gowns, charging a ‘rental fee’ with a deposit equal to the cost of the cap and gown. If you return same, you get your deposit back, and just pay the rental fee.
A reuse service like this could service several colleges & universities and ‘cut down the cost of higher education’ that everyone seems to complain about.
Students at my university recently raised this issue and created a forum on facebook for previous graduates to lend their gowns to future grads. Aside from the environmental impact, there was also a big financial burden, especially for low-income students. Graduation regalia is expensive these days, and my university was requiring students to purchase from the campus bookstore (we had a unique and specific color, so it was tough to go generic). The facebook group got quite large (a few thousand students used it) and university caught wind of it and changed its policy to provide students on financial aid with free regalia, but I hope this move doesn’t kill the group. Sharing is still far preferable to producing thousands of gowns just for my university every year, most of which will end up in the back of a closet for years and then in the trash. A bonus side effect: the young man who I lent my gown to last year was graduating from the same sustainable development program I got my degree from, and we’ve since connected!
I agree and have started a website to do just this – share gowns peer to peer. Check it out at https://gownr.sharetribe.com
Can you put a gown up to rent?
I am currently working with my community college, Rogue Community College, in Medford, Oregon to see if Greener Grads would be an option for graduating students. However, I am having trouble with getting onto the Greener Grads website and am unable to find any form of contact information. I would love to be able to set up a chance to make RCC a school that would participate in making a change in our graduation.
I have 3 graduation gowns and I’m interested in donating them! I also have friends who would like to donate their gowns as well.
Pingback: » Why can’t you recycle graduation gowns? | MNN
EDITOR NOTE: The business that is profiled here is no longer in business. But this article provides alot of good ideas for what else you can do with your gown. Hopefully, others will find profitable opportunity to rent gowns in the future.
https://earth911.com/living-well-being/style/graduation-gowns/?utm_source=New+Earth911+List+-+2015&utm_campaign=44e2422853-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_10_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e8b4dc609-44e2422853-167681593
My daughter just graduated and would love to donate her gown and try to gather her classmate ‘s caps and gowns too. Please contact us to help us do so.
As society becomes more aware of the environmental dangers of single-use plastics, we expect that the reduced demand will result in fewer of these environmentally damaging items being manufactured in the future. Perhaps it won’t be too much longer until we see our graduation regalia made of cotton again. Maybe we can even reinstate the practice of renting gowns for the day so they can be reused by the next graduating class.