Anyone who has lived in a dorm knows how easy it is to revel in the infinite availability of dining choices when tired, hungry and nutrionally deprived, and the dining hall tray has become nothing more than a vehicle for such recklessness. More often than not, students end up loading their trays with waffles, hamburgers, fries and Chinese food, and the overindulgence results not only in indigestion but a deplorable waste of food. In an environmentally conscious effort to reduce the University’s disposal of uneaten food, the Division of Housing and Food Service has proposed a “trayless dining system” to combat the waste of 112 tons — that’s 223,882 pounds — of edible food produced each year at UT. And not only would the trayless plan help reduce edible food waste, it would also cut the energy and utility costs incurred from cleaning and reusing trays. According to a July article in The Daily Texan, the University would save 25,500 gallons of water by not having to wash trays.
Though some students fear imminent line congestion and difficulty involved in hand-carrying their food, the trayless plan is a simple solution to a bigger problem that’s long overdue. More than 60 universities, including Baylor and Texas Tech, have already gone trayless. Trays may make our lives easier, but convenience is a small cost when there are larger issues at stake. Going trayless is not just an environmental statement, but a cultural one. We need to be flexible and adaptable to change how the University impacts the earth, and that includes changing some of our habits. With environmental consciousness in mind, we must weigh the items we can’t easily live without, like cars, with those we can, and cut corners where necessary. Where trays are concerned, we doubt anyone will be lamenting the loss of them three years down the road.
The Division of Housing and Food Service will continue to hold forums discussing the proposal throughout the spring semester and will most likely implement the trayless plan in the summer of 2009. The only facet of the argument for trayless dining that remains largely unexplored is what good can come from the retired trays. We envision a spectacular exhibit at the Harry Ransom Center showing what UT students once were.
7 comments
go to www.BSFlag.com and throw a BS Flag at trays!we don't need no steenkin trays!