By Nicole Fernandez | Staff Writer

Phi Theta Kappa, Kapiʻolani Community College’s Honor Society, is running a sustainable cap and gown campaign in an effort to turn KCC more sustainable.

The program is asking students to drop off their used caps and gowns at several donation boxes after they graduate. On Friday, May 10, PTK wants graduates to leave their items at a box in the Convention Center following the commencement ceremony. There will be a box in the holding room and another in the VIP room. After that, three more boxes will be available at the Lama Library, KCC Bookstore, and Kalia 112.

The donations will be steamed and sanitized, then prepared for rental for future graduating students, providing them with cheaper options for graduation necessities that usually have a more expensive price tag. Typically, a cap and gown set costs between $30-$50, depending on the seller. The KCC Bookstore is selling a gown set, which includes a gown, cap, tassel, and a collar for women, for $41.95. PTK will be loaning them out for $25, which includes a $10 deposit incase the items are lost or damaged.

Last year, over 430 students walked in the 2018 commencement ceremony. Double the amount of items have been stowed or thrown away, where they take up space in landfills because they are not biodegradable. By recycling them, it allow the caps and gowns to be reused indefinitely.

Cassandra Robinson, a member of PTK, said, “It’s about going green, we need to go green … we thought of this to help students and help the land, our land.”

In the future, PTK hopes to expand the campaign to every college in Hawaiʻi, and eventually nationwide. Choosing to donate will help the community become more sustainable, a goal that KCC and PTK has been focusing on.

For more information, contact the honor society at kcchonor@hawaii.edu.