Today, we headed over to the Grafton campus for the final President’s Picnic of the year! The beautiful scenery surrounding the campus was a great setting for promoting sustainability.

 

 

As with the other picnics, the event was a zero-waste affair. In addition to having our zero waste stations, we were also able to reduce waste emitted from our event by serving condiments in bulk rather than in small individually wrapped packages, and by promoting the use of reusable place settings instead of the dishware provided at the event.

Our staff setting up the zero waste stations

As has become tradition, we handed out free door prizes – “I saved a tree at the president’s picnic” stickers and a reusable sandwich bag – to everyone who came to the picnic with a complete reusable place setting. We define a “complete” place setting as being a plate, utensils, and something to drink out of (a reusable bottle, cup, or mug).

Our sticker and sandwich bag prizes

Those who brought their own place settings were also encouraged to enter our raffle. We raffled off our final lunchbox, and had Dr. Joyce Knoll, the interim dean of the Cummings School of Veterinary medicine, draw the winner. Dr. Maureen Murray of the Tufts Wildlife Clinic was our lucky winner!

The lucky winner of our final lunchbox – Dr. Maureen Murray from the Wildlife Clinic!

We have really enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm the Tufts community has for sustainability. Some attendees proudly showed us their OOS swag they got from previous president’s picnics, such as the reusable personal hand towels from last year and the reusable lunch boxes from two years ago!

She brought the lunchbox she got from us two years ago!

Thanks so much to everyone who attended the picnics this year and brought their own place settings. Catered events often have a lot of waste associated with them, so we are so glad that you all have helped us make Tufts events more sustainable. We can’t wait to see you all again next year, and don’t forget to tell your friends — we always bring prizes!