From a Claremont Conservative Reader

I have respected her/his wishes and not made any alterations. The Claremont Conservative will host opinions of students if you write in to me. This was written by LeShawinqua Jenkins, which is a pseudonym.

Thoughts on Trayless Dining-

I don’t usually use a tray when I eat at the Claremont Colleges. When I do, I do because I need more than two hands to carry everything I have with me. It is not unusual for me to show up to lunch with a notebook, all before picking up a salad, and some soup. Sadly, I have but two hands.
I would love to reduce our environmental impact. I try not to take more food than I need. I try not to shower longer than I need to. I wonder why we have so much grass on our campus, despite being in a desert. As a fiscal conservative, I think that the maintenance costs (labor and resources) are a waste of money.

I believe global warming is happening, and worry about what will happen if it goes unnoticed. I think Al Gore is a nice guy, and I think he would have made a better president than George W. Bush.
We don’t need to go trayless in order to have a more sustainable campus. I want to keep trays in our dining halls. After reading the above, you might ask why. You might tell me that going trayless saves thousands of gallons of water. You might tell me about how it reduces food waste, and how wasted food used fossil fuels to be trucked to Claremont, all for naught. You might present the argument entirely in economic terms, arguing that the cafeterias need to do some belt tightening, and that not having to replace trays, or make as much food would be good for them.

However, the savings on the water bill would be negligible. At the highest water rate in the Claremont area, the cafeterias pay 3.007 dollars per 748 gallons of water used. When NC State went trayless, they estimated water savings of about 6000 gallons/week. NC State’s dining services probably serve many more students than ours do, but even assuming we saved as much water as NC State did, the savings would come out to a whopping 24 dollars and change per week. That comes out to about 1000 dollars per 9 month academic year. And we are about one tenth the size of NC State.

As for the reduced food waste, I agree that people should not take more than they need, but I paid for an all-inclusive meal plan, and I don’t think it is right for the dining hall to impair my ability to avail myself of that service. I know that extra helping of mashed potatoes make lead to my being called “pudgy”, and I do sometimes try a dish that I end up not liking, and that it goes to waste. But that is a choice I want to be able to make, and not have made for me, as Nirant Gupta of the Portside would have it. I already avoid getting take-out from Frary, because their take-out boxes are so small as to make it impossible to fit a hamburger, fries, and ketchup comfortably. It is unpleasant, and it results in my not getting to eat everything I want to eat.
As for the economic terms, I do see why it would be in the dining halls’ interest to remove trays, as it saves them money. But it doesn’t benefit me, the customer, and so I am befuddled as to why I should support such a change. Why would I ask a business to provide less while charging me as much (and probably more) than they did before? If this were purely about the environmental issues I have discussed (and the others that I am sure are out there), the solution would not be going absolutely trayless. There is a more comprehensive approach that would benefit everybody, from the Dining Halls, to the students, to whomever it is who pays our dining tab, as opposed to a one-sized fits all approach that limits people’s options, irrespective of whether they want them.

My proposal has two parts, an immediate part and a long term part. Part one would involve doing a 24 hour online survey on SurveyMonkey. Based on that survey, each dining hall would maintain a sufficient number of trays behind the check in desk at each dining hall, that anybody who asked for a tray, would be given one, just as is done with take-out boxes. This would not be something new. If we went trayless, trays would have to be kept on hand for individuals covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, it would just call for slightly more trays to be kept on hand. Most people wouldn’t go through the trouble of asking for trays, but for those of us who may have a lot to carry, or plan on eating a lot, we would have the option.

Furthermore, I would suggest that those who are seeking the change to trayless dining, initiate an education program. If the trays were to have information on them about how not using a tray saves water, it could have a similar effect as European cigarette packs, which warn in very graphic terms about the dangers of smoking. Between the extra effort to procure a tray, and the social stigma that asking for one might come with as a result of the education program, I suspect that the savings sought by the dining halls and environmental groups would be realized, without curtailing the desires of those who prefer to use trays.

The second step would be to take a broader look at waste on campus. The most obvious savings on the dining hall front would be to go to a la carte dining, where each student paid for exactly what they ate, which would encourage students to waste less, and allow students greater control over how much they spent at dining halls. More broadly, we could look at more ridiculous uses of resources, like the amount of money spent on landscaping on campus. A more pragmatic approach based on the realities on the ground, as opposed to political statements, would leave everybody on campus happier, with more money in their wallets, and a better feeling about their impact on the environment.