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“College commencement ceremonies are accompanied by weekend long events, thousands of visitors, and consequently a great deal of waste. In response, colleges and universities across Connecticut are taking steps to make their graduation ceremonies as environmentally friendly as possible.

Wesleyan University in Middletown, in the midst of a yearlong effort to completely eliminate disposable plastic water bottles from its campus, will have two student-made water filtration dispensers at its ceremony, said sustainability coordinator Jennifer Kleindienst…

…Wesleyan held a competition in the fall for students to design portable water dispensers for graduation. The winner was chosen this spring, and two designs will provide water at the ceremony.

The university will be providing 6,000 reusable water bottles for use with the dispensers as well; one will be placed under each attendee’s seat. Barrels will also be provided so that the bottles can be turned in, rather than thrown out, at the end of the ceremony. The bottles will then be washed and used again at other university events, Kleindienst said.”