The filthiness of the takeout boxes is the latest story to be told about the politicization of our food choices.
At Collins, they are now reusing takeout boxes and giving them back to students. Currently, they charge 50 cents per takeout box and now, if you return your takeout box, they will simply rinse them out and sell them again.
I doubt very much that the cost of washing these takeout boxes was factored into this supposedly waste reducing policy. Further, I've washed a few things in my time. Wouldn't it be easier to wash out and reuse plastic trays (particularly when they are already purchased) than to rewash and reuse styrofoam takeout boxes. What's worse is that students don't know they are getting takeout boxes that others have already been eaten on!
There have got to be better ways to reduce waste. One such way is to let students take the food that they would otherwise waste out of the dining hall, rather than forcing them to get rid of it.
Obviously getting rid of trays would reduce waste. So too would eliminating plates.
Now I'm off the meal plan and so there's a limited effect that I can have on this, but I pledge that everytime I eat in any of the dining halls I'm going to be leaving my plate at my seat until the policy is changed.
3 comments:
that'll show 'em !
Dude, this is just a bad article. Your points are bad and the "hypothetical" questions you pose are really dumb. "Do students even know they're eating on something someone else ate out of?" Of course they do!! They've put that right in the information about the program. I work for another school that is trying to do reusable containers and I came across this while doing my background work.
Disposable take-out containers are hugely wasteful, imagine if you ate 1 take out meal per day, per week, and had all of that waste in front of you. Times 15-17 weeks, times 2 semesters. And that's just one take-out meal per week.
Reusable take-out containers HAVE to happen to make college dining sustainable. Just be glad your school isn't trying to milk people selling the containers. Most schools charge 5 to 10 dollars. I haven't seen their containers but 50 cents probably doesn't even cover the container.
Oh, and removing plastic trays reduces food waste by .5 to 1lbs per person, per meal. It is a significant waste reduction. Most food waste doesn't go to compost and instead goes to landfill, where (despite popular belief) it doesn't break down correctly since it is in an anaerobic landfill environment. It just sits there for years and years and years and years...quit being such a hater.
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