There’s a new chapter in the story of sustainability at Swarthmore College.

The Swarthmore Campus & Community Store has taken steps toward integrating sustainability into its operations — thanks in large part to a close collaboration with a student Green Advisor and support from the College’s Office of Sustainability.

Throughout the fall semester, the bookstore team met weekly with Green Advisor Zhen Ning Deng ’26 and worked in partnership with staff members Rob Hirsch and David Urbany. Their shared goal: to embed sustainability into the daily practices of the bookstore while educating customers and strengthening vendor accountability.

“Our sustainability initiatives were driven by a broader commitment to reducing our environmental footprint and aligning with campus-wide sustainability efforts,” says Erica Considine, director of the Campus & Community Store. “We recognized an opportunity to take a closer look at how the bookstore could support sustainability and decided to make meaningful changes in collaboration with [Deng].”

At the heart of these efforts was the comprehensive vendor evaluation framework — an eight-criteria tool that assessed the store’s 13 major vendors on labor practices, emissions, packaging, product materials, and more. This detailed research culminated in a public-facing report that ranked vendors and spotlighted industry leaders like Conscious Step and Pacha Soap Co., which prioritize ethical sourcing and sustainable manufacturing.

“What stood out most to me was how invested the bookstore staff were in making meaningful changes,” says Deng, an economics major from New York City. “Rather than viewing sustainability as an add-on, Rob and David treated it as a core component of the store’s operations and values.”

From the start, visibility was key. With guidance from the Office of Sustainability, the team designed a dedicated sustainability logo that now marks qualifying products (such as these clothing items) both in-store and on the store’s website. A redesigned online menu and QR codes on display shelves allow customers to dig deeper into the research that supports these claims, encouraging informed and values-based shopping.

“This initiative is an ongoing effort to connect with vendors that follow sustainable practices and offer their products in our store,” says Considine. “With Zhen’s help, we created a dedicated logo to identify these items both in-store and on our website.”

Beyond branding, the store implemented several practical reforms:

• Transitioning from plastic to paper shopping bags
• Eliminating bags entirely for textbook orders
• Partnering with Worthmore to donate unclaimed books left around campus
• Offering compostable materials for campus departments to use at their events

The team also explored deeper structural changes, including a shift to a digital-first textbook model to reduce waste from overprinted materials. Urbany is now collecting data and drafting messaging to support the transition.

For Deng, the project offered more than a resume boost — it became a real-world laboratory for practicing sustainable systems design, stakeholder engagement, and public communication.

“I was proud that the tools we created — especially the vendor evaluation framework, QR code, and sustainability logos — remained in place after I concluded my role and continued to support the store’s environmental mission,” he says.

Swarthmore’s ethos of environmental responsibility has long shaped campus decision-making, from zero waste efforts to climate justice advocacy. This project adds a new chapter, showing how collaboration between students and staff can generate lasting impact — even in places as unexpected as a college bookstore.

“We see these initiatives as just the beginning,” says Considine. “We’re eager to build on this momentum and stay engaged with both our campus community and vendors who share our commitment to sustainability.”