Connect with us
Office of Sustainability
Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center Room 203
746 High Street
Easton PA, 18042
sustainability@lafayette.edu
746 High Street
Easton PA, 18042
sustainability@lafayette.edu
Waste and Procurement
The largest share of Lafayette’s emissions comes from the procurement and use of goods and services on campus. Waste and procurement are categories within Lafayette’s indirect (scope 3) emissions. Because these emissions are indirect, they are among the most challenging to reduce. Nonetheless, this section outlines strategies to meaningfully lower emissions from procurement and waste before 2035.
Learn more about Lafayette’s Waste & Procurement strategies in Category 4, Section 10 of the full Climate Action Plan 3.0.
Goals
Key Concepts
The following key concepts provide context for understanding Lafayette’s approach to reducing waste and advancing more sustainable procurement practices.
Circular Economy
A circular economy seeks to reduce waste by keeping products and materials in use rather than discarding them after a single use.
Through practices such as reuse, repair, and recycling, resources can remain in circulation and retain their value for longer.
Source: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
Waste Management Hierarchy
The waste management hierarchy provides a framework for prioritizing waste strategies based on their environmental impact.
It favors reducing and reusing materials first, followed by recycling and composting, while treatment and disposal are considered less preferred approaches.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Vendor Engagement Strategy
There are two primary ways to address emissions from procurement: changing the products purchased or changing vendors. When products or services are relatively fixed, such as health insurance, the most effective approach is to work with vendors to improve their sustainability practices.
Lafayette will establish a working group of
stakeholders involved in procurement decisions
and vendor relationship management to
determine a plan for engaging these vendors,
collecting the data requested for accounting,
and renegotiating contracts where appropriate.
Sustainable Construction Policy
As part of CAP 3.0, Lafayette is committing to developing and implementing a sustainable construction policy for new facilities and major renovations on campus.
Ensuring Lafayette buildings are built with sustainability in mind moving forward will not only reduce scope 3 emissions but also mitigate floods and improve biodiversity on campus.
Sustainable Food Procurement
Lafayette’s second largest indirect emissions category is food, representing about 4% of Lafayette’s total emissions. These emissions result from the farming, raising, and processing of animals and crops consumed by Lafayette in dining and events. For Lafayette to achieve these aims, we must work with our dining providers to better understand our food procurement and make changes to sustainable choices.
A major contribution to Lafayette’s sustainable food commitment will be the expansion of LaFarm. LaFarm, located on the Metzgar campus, is 3 acres of land that produces over 20,000 pounds of food annually.
Switching to more local food vendors like LaFarm cuts down on air pollution associated with regularly trucking large quantities of food to campus from far away.
Waste
As a part of CAP 2.0, Lafayette committed to achieving a 60% waste diversion rate by 2035, with an interim target of 40% by 2030, and we are continuing that commitment as a part of this Climate Action Plan.
As shown in the chart, we are currently diverting approximately 26% of our waste away from landfill by either composting, recycling, or reusing it.
By 2035, Lafayette intends to minimize landfill disposal as much as possible, not only to support our carbon neutrality goals, but also to help reduce broader air and water pollution impacts in surrounding communities.
Educational Opportunities
Adopting these waste and procurement decarbonization strategies will create rich, hands-on educational opportunities that connect classroom learning to real-world sustainability challenges across campus.
Expanded sustainable food procurement and the growth of LaFarm will provide experiential learning in sustainable agriculture, food systems, biodiversity, and climate‐smart land management, while also supporting student employment and research.
Waste and Procurement Road Map
