Sodexo forgoes trays

This semester, Dining Services implemented a tray-less dining policy in order to go green and help preserve the environment.

In an attempt to conserve water, decrease waste and reduce energy consumption and chemical use, Neal Seigler, the general manager of Dining Services at GCSU, made the decision to implement this tray-less dining policy. This policy is not unique to GCSU, as many other college dining halls run by Sodexo are also participating in this environmentally-friendly approach to dining.

Seigler has heard an overall positive feedback from students. The majority of students have been supportive of the new policy.

Dining Services is convinced its new sustainability campaign is going to be a success claiming that washing 380,000 fewer trays this year, will save approximately 2,300 gallons of water per week and 73,600 gallons of water over the course of the academic year.

Those statistics do not include the fewer dishes expected since students and guests will not be able to carry as much without the assistance of a tray.

Dining Services estimates that by practicing tray-less dining, the amount of waste generated in the dish room will decrease 25 percent, which is approximately 22,500 less pounds of waste per academic year.

“We have noticed that the amount of trash, in our 65 gallon trash cans, that we dump everyday, has been cut almost in half since removing trays,” Seigler said.

Some upperclassmen students are unhappy with the new policy, because they are used to having the convenience of a tray.

“I don’t like it at all,” said sophomore Ellen Conner. “It’s very hard to get everything you want in one trip.”

But, her friend Jane Feinburg, also a sophomore, does not mind the hassle.

“I may have to get up multiple times, but it’s not that bad, because I’m helping save the environment,” Feinburg said.

After reading some of the statistics at their table about food waste, Conner, Feinburg, and their friends all admitted that they do not waste as much food now that they are not bringing as much to the table in one trip.

Brandon Willams, a sophomore at GCSU, said he wastes much less food.

“I used to get salads and end up just throwing them away,” Williams said. “But I still wish we had trays.”

Conner and her friends wonder what the actual statistics will look like as a result of removing the use of trays from campus dining.

“I would be interested to see how much the waste actually is at the end of the year,” Conner said.

Sodexo has adopted an Environmental Action Plan in its supplier Code of Conduct to ensure businesses are aware of Sodexo’s expectations and commitments in the context of the environment.

According to Seigler, another positive outcome of tray-less dining is the responsibility that students are gaining by making decisions about how much food they really need. Seigler hopes that students will become more aware of the need to help sustain the environment and discover new ways to do so.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 19 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry