2008 Woodie Awards
Trayless days test enviro. enthusiasm
James Beltran
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Green Page
There is something quite different in the dining halls on Thursdays for students, faculty, staff and visitors, and it is not necessarily found on the menu.
This difference in the dining halls can be found through a program called Trayless Thursdays, in which no trays are used at all during each Thursday. Katherine Unsworth '10, who is involved in the Trayless Thursday project as a representative from Go-Ho, the Environmental Studies Department and Environmental Coalition, took data on food waste and the effect of traylessness on campus. She explained that "the whole idea is not actually what people think it is," adding that Trayless Thursdays are meant to eliminate food waste and not water waste. Unsworth estimated that Trayless Thursdays reduces the food waste by 60 to 70 percent.
The Trayless Thursdays project is in the midst of expansion. "Most likely we're going to have no trays at all next year. Nothing has been finalized, though," Unsworth said, adding that "if the campus were to go entirely trayless, there would be a benefit to students." She noted that Dining Services is behind it because it cuts down on their food costs, since not much food is wasted. Unsworth stated that nothing has been finalized, as Dining Services is considering all options. One option would be a grab-and-go lunch program. A second option would be longer dining hours, with one additional hour given for dinner.
Unsworth described the methods she used to determine the extensiveness of food waste from the dining halls on campus. She explained that she started by looking at the amount of food waste and doing more studies. Afterward, Unsworth was able to develop better surveys. However, she noted that the surveys taken in Dana were not counted, as the data was inaccurate. To enhance the survey results, Unsworth mentioned that the same menu was used with trays and without trays for a period of one week in order to eliminate bias.
Per capita food waste equals the total amount of food left on dishes and trays divided by the number of people who ate at a given meal.
This difference in the dining halls can be found through a program called Trayless Thursdays, in which no trays are used at all during each Thursday. Katherine Unsworth '10, who is involved in the Trayless Thursday project as a representative from Go-Ho, the Environmental Studies Department and Environmental Coalition, took data on food waste and the effect of traylessness on campus. She explained that "the whole idea is not actually what people think it is," adding that Trayless Thursdays are meant to eliminate food waste and not water waste. Unsworth estimated that Trayless Thursdays reduces the food waste by 60 to 70 percent.
The Trayless Thursdays project is in the midst of expansion. "Most likely we're going to have no trays at all next year. Nothing has been finalized, though," Unsworth said, adding that "if the campus were to go entirely trayless, there would be a benefit to students." She noted that Dining Services is behind it because it cuts down on their food costs, since not much food is wasted. Unsworth stated that nothing has been finalized, as Dining Services is considering all options. One option would be a grab-and-go lunch program. A second option would be longer dining hours, with one additional hour given for dinner.
Unsworth described the methods she used to determine the extensiveness of food waste from the dining halls on campus. She explained that she started by looking at the amount of food waste and doing more studies. Afterward, Unsworth was able to develop better surveys. However, she noted that the surveys taken in Dana were not counted, as the data was inaccurate. To enhance the survey results, Unsworth mentioned that the same menu was used with trays and without trays for a period of one week in order to eliminate bias.
Per capita food waste equals the total amount of food left on dishes and trays divided by the number of people who ate at a given meal.
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