Editorial: Dining halls should accommodate on-the-go to reduce food waste

The average college student creates 640 pounds of solid waste a year, including 500 disposable cups and 320 pounds of paper. This means that the undergraduate population at Tufts is responsible for annually adding approximately 3,385,600 pounds of solid waste to the Earth. The solid waste produced ends up in one of approximately 1,908 landfills in the United States. These landfills account for around 18.2 percent of human-related emissions of methane, a highly combustible gas that affects the ozone, per year.

These numbers now take on a sobering significance, as global concern regarding the negative impacts of climate change has been increasing. Tufts has already taken steps toward creating a more green campus by building LEED-certified buildings and creating initiatives like the Green Roof Collaborative. But beyond these expensive, grand-scale reforms, there is a way that Tufts students could dramatically scale back the amount of waste they produce on a day-to-day basis. And it all has to do with to-go containers.

When schedules get hectic and schoolwork ramps up, meals are often the first things to get sacrificed. Breakfast gets skipped, lunch gets wolfed down in record time and dinner becomes an afterthought. In a pinch, Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run becomes the default. Sodas are poured into disposable cups, meals are assembled in plastic bowls, plastic utensils are dispensed and paper bags are grabbed on the way out. And in terms of convenience for students who are on meal plans, it can be frustrating that Hodgdon and the Pax et Lox Glatt Kosher Deli are the only places one can take food to-go. After the meal has been eaten, all of the disposable packaging goes into the trash and eventually into a landfill. This waste is unnecessary and excessive.

Other universities have responded to similar problems with simple solutions. The Claremont University Consortium in California uses a system known as the greenbox. At the beginning of the year, students pay $1 to check out a greenbox or a greencup, a reusable container. In between classes, students can use their meal swipe to fill up their box or cup with food from the dining hall and take their food to go without wasting any materials. At any point during the semester, the box or cup can be traded in for a clean one. The $1 fee is refunded at the end of the semester when the item is returned.

The University of Vermont similarly offers a membership at the cost of $7.50 for the use of “EcoWare,” a reusable box. Students who use EcoWare get 15¢ off their to-go meal, which is approximately the price of a disposable container. Other colleges with similar systems include Randolph College in Virginia, Knox College in Illinois, University of South Florida and Northern Kentucky University. At the University of South Florida, the reusable containers initially cost $17,000 to purchase but ended up saving the university $23,000 that would have been spent on disposable containers, making the endeavor a profitable one.

Tufts prides itself on being a forward-thinking campus. Implementing a reusable to-go box system that can be used in Dewick-MacPhie and Carmichael Dining Centers will greatly reduce the school’s carbon footprint as well as offer students a more viable way to eat full meals over the course of a busy day. Everyone wins, including the environment.