Spark Change: Sustainability Seed Grants

The Center for Career and Civic Engagement is excited to support the rising student demand for sustainability careers by launching a Sustainability Career Trek to Boston. Up to 15 students will receive hands-on access to visit learning hubs of sustainable innovation. Through employer visits, alum networking, and immersive learning, students will build skills, expand networks, and envision impactful careers across sectors. This initiative will spark inspiration, strengthen community, and connect Bryn Mawr students to the future of sustainability!

Grant Contact: Katie Turek, Associate Director of Experiential Education, Career and Civic Engagement.

Thanks to the demonstrated success of Leanpath food waste reduction in Erdman Dining Hall in Spring 2026, Dining Services is excited to deploy the same solution in New Dorm Dining Hall to quantify current waste practices, evaluate waste reduction measures, and help achieve tangible waste reduction goals!

Grant Contact: Richard Clow, Associate Director for Administration, Dining Services.

The rapid rise of electronic waste—62 billion kg globally in 2022—underscores the urgent need for more sustainable solutions, especially as most discarded electronics remain functional and valuable. At Bryn Mawr College, this partnership between Computer Science faculty member  Aline Normoyle, LITS, and the Office of Sustainability proposes repairing, repurposing, and re-using or donating equipment rather than discarding it. The program would engage students in hands-on technical learning while expanding access to technology for local communities and reducing environmental impact. By turning waste into opportunity, this effort advances sustainability, supports community partners, and strengthens Bryn Mawr College's leadership in responsible innovation.

Grant Contact: Aline Normoyle, Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Science labs use lots of energy and generate waste that can be tricky to recycle—but the Biology department wanted to change that. As part of this project, students and faculty developed pilot solutions to cut energy use, reduce disposable plastics, and adopt eco-friendly materials while maintaining safety standards. 

• The grant team surveyed 8 labs to assess strengths and weaknesses related to sustainability.
• A resource sharing initiative was developed for laboratory supplies, to ensure usable items are not gathering dust or ending up in landfills
• 21 kg of recyclable materials were sorted, collected, and weight to assess waste generation in labs. 13 zero-waste boxes were purchased to collect gloves and packaging materials that would otherwise be sent to landfills.
• New composting opportunities were explored for organic waste
• Additional signage in labs helps promote simple practices to reduce energy consumption and increase waste diversion.
• Reusable and eco-friendly supplies were purchased to reduce waste - such as a refurbished energy efficient bath for tissue culture, synfrogs to replace preserved specimens, paper weigh boats instead of plastics.

This revitalization of the Bryn Mawr Community Garden has seen an exciting flurry of activity this semester, both in the physical space as well as the engagement of our community members in this initiative. The existing beds were removed and replaced with 24 smaller beds in a more open setup; and two new picnic tables are now in place. Planting activities took place during Spring 2026 – both indoors and outdoors! 27 different types of seeds have been planted directly in the new beds, and over 500 seeds were planted indoors. Seeds and plants have been taking root over summer, and campus community members have enjoyed bountiful harvests of green leafy vegetables. Students and staff continue to tend the garden over summer, and the revitalized garden continues to serve a community gathering space for friendly dinners and group meetings. 

Erdman Dining Hall is fighting food waste with Leanpath, a real time tracking system that weighs and analyzes discarded food. This data-driven approach has helped quantify and categorize over 21,600 lbs of pre-consumer food waste at Erdman Dining Hall. The data has been used to establish baseline waste data, and waste reduction goals for different product categories, and make progress towards these goals. Since setting a baseline on February 16th, Erdman has reduced food waste by 3,695 lbs, or 24.17% overall waste reduction! This is equivalent to over  $6,700 in food cost savings and 11.67 metric tons of avoided CO2 emissions.

For 28 years, the End-of-Year Sale has kept thousands of pounds of belongings out of landfills—and now, it’s getting an upgrade! This year's sale will included three student interns who  led outreach, signage and donation tracking to boost sustainability education and expand community partnerships. 20,000 lbs of usable items were diverted from the landfill with the help of dozens of campus community members! 

The Thorne School launched a hands-on sustainability initiative involving Bryn Mawr College staff and students, community partners, and ten kindergarteners to reduce waste and build environmental awareness. After a three-day waste audit revealed that all waste was going to the landfill, the school partnered with Haverford College’s Committee for Environmental Responsibility to begin composting and explored additional waste-reduction strategies through collaborations with two local, women-owned businesses - SHIFT Sustainable Goods, and Mother Compost. Kindergarteners deepened their learning through interactive workshops on composting and reuse, including creating “soilariums” and participating in a mini-refillery experience. As a result of these efforts, the office now diverts 64% of its trash from the landfill, increased strong understanding of composting among kindergarteners from 10% to 80%, built six community partnerships, reached ten families, and inspired parents to consider sustainable practices at home. The experience has been transformative for parents, with one quoting “This is SO cool! What an amazing opportunity and project! I've been thinking about starting compost for a while, maybe this will be the push to get us going at home too.”