Our Commitment

We Have Ditched Single Use Plastic & Hope You Will Too

Every year 79% of single-use plastic waste ends in landfills, dumps, and the natural environment. Pledging to just recycling is clearly not enough, studies show only 9% of plastic waste is actually broken down, repurposed, and reused. As such, Cleaners & Dorm Essentials is making a Sustainability Pledge to participate in a system of change towards responsible consumption of our goods and services. 

To start, we are pledging to remove single-use plastic from our water delivery service. We will no longer be selling 24 water pack deliveries, instead solely offering our water cooler plan to the Harvard campus. The justification behind this is simple — single use plastic bottles follow a linear system of consumption, whilst our water cooler plan is part of a closed system; the latter significantly reduces plastic waste. 

An industry standard 5-gallon jug used in our water cooler plan is the equivalent of approximately 37 single-use plastic bottles. It is clear a simple switch such as this will have a significant effect on an individual’s plastic consumption over the course of a typical academic year.

*Please note: due to the University's COVID-19 policy, we are unable to offer water cooler plans for the 2020-2021 academic year. We hope to offer the service again once it becomes safe to do so.

Providing Meaningful Employment Opportunities Since 1957

Established in 1957, Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) is an entirely student-run company, employing over 650 undergraduates annually. We provide various goods and services with the high-touch customer service from individuals who understand the needs and expectations of undergraduate students. HSA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, every single dollar we receive is invested back into providing undergraduate student wages and financial aid. 

Cleaners & Dorm Essentials is the company’s founding agency, and Harvard’s original start-up. CDE has provided dry-cleaning, and delivery laundry services to the Harvard community and greater Boston area for over 60 years. Every laundry bag requested for pick-up through our tracking app, Clothespin, is collected by our team of Harvard undergraduate Delivery Associates (DAs).

Our team of DAs work diligently six days a week collecting laundry, and then delivering them washed, dried, and folded year-round straight to your door. DAs pick-up and deliver across every corner of campus, from the Yard to the Upperclassmen Houses. Every year, CDE pays out over $100,000 in student wages to our Delivery and storefront Sales Associates. HSA itself pays over $1.7 million in undergraduate student wages annually. We appreciate every single customer who works with HSA in helping us provide meaningful student employment opportunities for over half a century. 

If you are a Harvard undergraduate interested in working with us, please email cleaners@hsa.net.