No Trays, No Problem for RIT
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Reported by: Ali Touhey
Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 @03:32pm EST
For college students at RIT, last year's food philosophy was simple. Hungry? Why wait? Grab a food tray.
"The students would take the tray, they'd go up and get a plate of food here and a plate of something over there," said Craig Neal, the residential dining director.
That translates to 21 tons of wasted food a year, a major reason why the college made the decision to stop carrying food trays.
Since tossing the trays in July, Neal says the college has had few complaints. In fact, students we spoke with say they see the change as a convenience."
"It's a lot easier," said Robyn Schrawtz, a freshman. "Instead I can just pile it on one plate and go that way. I don't have to go to three separate places."
"It's kind of nice again because you don't have to worry about a big bulky tray, and you can actually fit a lot more people at the line too," said Kimberly Trumpore.
There's also a bigger environmental picture here. By eliminating plastic trays, they're saving approximately 100,000 gallons of water and 10% in energy costs. That doesn't mean the college is cashing in on the cuts.
"Some of the money that we save, we're putting into other green items to help save the environment as well," said Neal.
One example - sugarcane-based take-home containers. Offering this eco-friendly biodegradable packaging does come at a price. At $0.28 cents apiece, they are four times as expensive as the previous containers.
Students say they appreciate the upgrade and the college's green efforts.
"I do feel it's important because we're here and we have an obligation to the Earth, said Schrawtz. "Just helping out any way we can I think is great."
So what will come of the 2,000 now useless trays?
"They used to steal them for sleds - now we'll probably give them out," said Neal. "We'll just ask them not to return them."
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