Sustainability at Berklee

Berklee is dedicated to reducing waste and energy usage, and employing sustainable practices across all departments. The following projects are a sample of these efforts. 

Projects 

Waste

  • All food waste from Berklee's dining is diverted from landfills and sent to a plant where the food is anaerobically digested. Food is put into a Somat pulper machine on campus that creates a slurry, after which the water is extracted, creating a pulp that is then sent off to the treatment plant. 
  • All dining facilities use corn-based to-go plates and utensils that can be processed through the Somat machine. 
  • In 2019, Berklee diverted 208.26 tons of waste from landfills between single-stream recycling and organics recycling from the Somat pulper. 
  • Berklee has installed 20 water bottle filling stations to date and continues to add to this number in an effort to decrease waste from plastic bottles. 
  • Drop, Shop and Donate: This is a shop to eliminate waste during the office and dorm clean-out process at the end of the year. In May 2018, the shop collected 998.5 pounds of material and was able to save 923.3 pounds from going to landfills.
  • Office Supply Swap: This is an annual event where faculty and staff can swap office supplies they no longer need for those that they do.

Electric 

  • Berklee partnered with the company Thinklite to replace all the ballasts at 921 Boylston Street to accommodate new LED lights in December 2017. From 2017 through 2019, a total of 509,766 kilowatt hours have been saved. 
  • LED lights have been installed in 160 Massachusetts Avenue, 1140 Boylston Street, and 25 Fordham Road, and in the outside lighting behind the Fenway buildings and 150 Massachusetts Avenue. 

Other

  • The hot water for buildings 1140 Boylston Street, 150 and 160 Massachusetts Avenue, 921 Boylston Street, and 98 Hemenway Street is on an outdoor air reset. This modulates with the outside air temperature, saving a significant amount of energy. 
  • Custodial supplies, including paint, are green products with low volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 
  • The majority of campus has low-flow shower heads and toilets.

Join the Sustainability Coalition to participate in the effort to reduce waste, electrical usage and more. The Coalition aims to unify all campus efforts and embark upon large-scale projects to create a more sustainable campus, and we would love to have you join us. Send us an email to sustainabilitycoalition@berklee.edu for more information!