In the spirit of Earth Day, Penn State Dining announced plans to eliminate plastic bags at on-campus dining locations starting this fall.

Pepsi has donated 25,000 reusable bags that students will get in the fall to launch the campaign, so sit back and drink an ice cold Gatorade to celebrate the fact that we’re probably not becoming a Coke campus any time soon.

“We made this decision as part of a larger campaign to reduce one-time use items like plastic bags, plastic straws, and plastic silverware, and to offer more sustainable, reusable solutions,” Jamie Robinson, senior assistant director in Residential Dining, said in a release.

Penn State Dining has already eliminated plastic straws from its dining hall buffets and recently implemented a system called Spark to track and reduce food waste. However, Penn State Housing’s removal of compost bins in residence halls has shown that student buy-in is essential to influencing sustainable initiatives on campus.

You can jumpstart your personal sustainability now by using reusable bags when you’re shopping in convenience stores like Louie’s across campus.

About the Author

Matt DiSanto

Matt proudly served as Onward State’s managing editor for two years until graduating from Penn State in May 2022. Now, he’s off in the real world doing real things. Send him an email (mattdisanto86@gmail.com) or follow him on Twitter (@mattdisanto_) to stay in touch.

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