No trays in college's cafeteria results in green savings

BY BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff writer

9/1/2008

It is hard to imagine throwing away 65,000 tons of food and 288,290 gallons of water at a time when people are going hungry and water has become such a precious commodity.

But that was how much food waste and dishwashing water the University of Maine at Farmington has saved since the campus food service removed trays from the dining room in February 2007.

"When the idea was first presented by students to campus groups, people would ask, 'why aren't we already doing it?' " said Chris Kinney, the Aramark director of dining services at UMF. Aramark specializes in food services for stadiums, arenas, campuses, businesses and schools.

Contributed photo
A TREND: Dale Menard, a University of Maine at Farmington senior, enjoys a meal served by Saylene Greenough, a member of Aramark’s dining services staff, in the University’s environmentally conscious and trayless dining hall.

"There was a very strong commitment that this should be the way to go," Kinney said.

From Maine to drought-stricken Georgia to California, colleges and universities are eliminating trays to lighten the load on dishwashers and cut down on wasted food.

Fifty to 60 percent of Philadelphia-based Aramark's 500 campus partners and 230 of the 600 colleges and universities served by Sodexo, a food service company based in Maryland, are expected to dump their trays starting this year, company officials said.

As of Aug. 16, Colby College in Waterville, serviced by Sodexo, has stopped using trays, as has Unity College in Unity.

Katie Unsworth, a Colby student from Shelburne, Vt., is a member of the Environmental Coalition on campus that was instrumental in selling the tray-less concept to students and the administration last spring.

Students measured the amount of pre-consumer and post-consumer waste in a controlled study over two weeks, comparing meals with the same menus served on trays and without.

The results were eye-opening: Without trays, there was 50 tons less food waste and 79,000 gallons less water used, according to food-service director Varun Avasthi.

"The amount of waste was staggering," Unsworth said. "Not only was going tray-less environmentally friendly but it would have a great economic advantage to the college by not wasting as much food and water."

WHAT IN EXCHANGE?

Not everyone was thrilled with the idea, she noted. "There were people who were used to piling up lots of plates and cups and we decided to see what they would want in exchange for the inconvenience."

The student government distributed surveys and found that topping the list were easy "grab-and-go" lunches, full breakfasts served from 8 to 10 a.m. on weekends, extended dining hall hours and more local food.

"Once people realized the advantages, the transition became easier," she said.

Avasthi said that the projected savings on food purchases and in water use are being directed towards buying more locally grown or produced food, which now accounts for 20 percent of Colby's grocery bill.

"Right now, the timing is good for this effort. Value and student satisfaction has increased, and the feedback is positive," he said. When classes started last week, Unity College students also discovered their trays were missing.

"We started seeing the idea pop up on the (National Association for College and University Food Services) list serve a month ago and we felt it was important to do. We are an environmental college and are always looking for more ways to become sustainable," said Sandy Donahue, director of food services.

"We all 'eat' with our eyes and when you have a tray, people tend to take more food. This way, they can come back for seconds," she said.

Thomas College in Waterville has experimented with the idea, but Sodexo's Jody Pellotte, Thomas' dining-service director, said there need to be more discussions with students to make sure it will be a success. He expects it will be initiated in the fall 2009 semester.

UMF's Kinney said the school has a green mission statement that includes a commitment to make sustainable practices an integral part of all campus operations. Two years ago, a student on the Sustainable Campus Coalition, of which Kinney is a member, suggested doing away with trays.

2006 STUDY

Coalition members in 2006 also conducted a study that analyzed uneaten food with trays and without.

The process took about eight months. "We were one of the first schools to do it and our success has been used in the company's white paper," he said.

Both UMF and Colby also sell all used cooking oil to a biofuel manufacturer and recycle post-consumer waste from the dining halls with area composting operations.

"The amount of energy, the amount of water and cleaning chemicals and the amount of discharge going into Farmington's waste-water treatment plant were significant," Kinney said.

As for any difficulty in the transition, Kinney said, "People figured out pretty quickly how to load their plates and how to 'work' the room."

UMF junior Jonathan Dennett of Winthrop said going tray-less took some adjustment but he noticed he took less food and chose foods he wanted, rather than piling up a selection of offerings that might end up in the trash.

"I like the idea. When you get a plate of food now, it looks like a normal meal, the kind you get in a restaurant buffet line rather than in an institution," he said. "When I learned how much food was wasted using trays, I was shocked."

It's too soon to measure cost savings of the tray-less movement nationwide.

But five times more energy and water are consumed in dining halls than any other square foot on college campuses, said Sodexo spokeswoman Monica Zimmer.

"So if a college is looking to go 'green,' they need to start looking in the dining facility," Zimmer said.

Aramark conducted a study of 92,000 students, faculty and staff at 300 institutions and found that 79 percent indicated they would accept eating off plates instead of trays. Another Aramark study of 186,000 meals served at 25 institutions found that when trays weren't used, food waste per person was reduced 25 percent to 30 percent.

At least 23 of the 625 schools belonging to the National Association of College & University Food Services have adopted the idea so far.

Most of those schools operate their food services independently.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.