Tray-less, save more
?Though it may mean more trips to get food each meal, the decision to remove trays from residential restaurants was wise.
At an estimated annual savings of 500 gallons of water per tray, the ecological benefits are manifold: Aside from the water saved, the university also will decrease its chemical soap usage.
Going tray-less also is anticipated to cut food waste between 25 and 30 percent - the result of limiting the amount of food students can carry at one time.
It's a considerable step toward making the university more environmentally sustainable.
And the decision's dividends aren't only a sense of ethical superiority.
Drastically reducing water usage also will reduce the dining commons' operating costs, a cutback especially apt given the university's tight financial situation. Money spent cleaning trays could go to better use elsewhere.
Some students may still protest that the university's sustainability aims - or financial problems, even -?shouldn't cause such an inconvenience, and that institutional goals could better take form in less noticeable ways.
But it's unreasonable to require the university, when faced with a way to immediately and significantly reduce waste, to simply overlook the opportunity on the basis of students' inconvenience. The ecological benefits far outweigh the costs to students - and it's encouraging to see the university act on them.
What Campus Dining must not forget is to keep track of how much the change does in fact reduce waste. Reports are planned, but one should be released by the end of the semester, at the latest. This will assure students that their inconvenience is not for nothing.
