The Green Commitment Collaborative (GCC) brings together faculty, staff, and students to advance environmental sustainability at Penn GSE. The GCC works in collaboration with Penn Sustainability to implement initiatives that complement our School’s character, capacities, and priorities. In the 2025-2026 academic year, the GCC is focusing on the following projects:

Electronic Waste Recycling

E-waste recycling is important to reduce soil and water contamination from the dangerous chemicals in tech devices. The GCC will host two recycling drives:

• Wednesday, October 15, 2025 (coinciding with Climate Week)
• Wednesday, February 25, 2026 (coinciding with Energy Week)

All Penn GSE community members are encouraged to bring electronic waste from their homes or office spaces. View a list of recyclable electronics available here. All devices will be securely stored and wiped of data.

Sustainable Event Checklist

Penn GSE is committed to reducing catering waste and improving event sustainability. To that end, all event organizers are invited to consult this checklist of strategies to minimize catering waste. If you have organized an event, we invite you to share your sustainability efforts through this short survey. To celebrate our community’s sustainability accomplishments, survey respondents and their teams will be invited to a zero-waste ice cream party in the spring of 2026.

Office Clean-Up and Resource Sharing Week

This event is an opportunity to get rid of the supplies that we don’t want (in an environmentally conscious way), while consolidating, organizing and inventorying the materials that we do want (to reduce future consumption). All faculty and staff are encouraged to use the Recycling and Donation Infographic to identify the proper disposal options for unwanted supplies. The GCC will donate all useable material and recycle as much of the remainder as possible. The event will take place from Wednesday, December 3rd through Wednesday, December 10th.

The Green Commitment Collaborative meets monthly and welcomes participation at any level. To get involved, please email green-team@gse.upenn.edu. We’d love for you to join us!