News

Trayless program takes off

By Patrick Donahue
Staff Writer

The Green Mountain Dining Hall will be going tray-less from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6. The Student Association, Green Up and Sodexo collaborated to develop the pilot program designed to conserve water and energy while reducing food waste.

Going trayless is intended to save large amounts of water that would have been used to wash the trays, along with energy to heat that water and chemicals to ensure the trays get clean, said Gary Levante, secretary of Student Life.

“This trial is designed to raise awareness about sustainability and to also make students realize the monetary savings we would see as a result of going trayless,” he said.

The University of Vermont, Champlain college and Middlebury have all gone trayless, Levante said.

“We are the only school up here that still uses trays,” he said.

After the trial ends the students will be asked for their opinion. If the feedback is positive, St. Michael’s could go completely trayless next semester, Levante said.

“The success of the trayless program all depends on the student’s reaction,” said Hank Strashnick, director of Sodexo.

The pilot program will be easy to implement because there are no preparations necessary, he said. Trays will still be available for students with disabilities and handicaps, he said.

The trial program has been a long time coming, said Green Up member Dan Hock. It was discussed last year but there was not enough time to get it up and running, he said.

“(Going trayless will) hopefully eliminate the problem of one’s eyes being bigger than their mouth,” he said.

Each tray requires a half gallon of water to clean, Strashnick said.

Green Up would like to see the savings go to further sustainability, Hock said. If Sodexo can use the money they save to buy local food, we will see higher levels of quality and freshness, he said.

Levante hopes that the savings Sodexo sees will go towards the fourth meal which is in the very early stages of development, he said.

“This fourth meal would run in Alliot Sunday through Thursday later in the evening, about 10:00 p.m. to 11:30,” Levante said.

The fourth meal is intended to cut down on the amount students spend on takeout after the dining hall is closed, Strashnick said. A pilot program for the fourth meal will hopefully be implemented at some point next semester, he said.

Similar programs at other colleges have reduced food waste by up to 15 percent. Mandy De- Merchant is a student and dining hall employee at the University of Connecticut, one of the many schools that has gone trayless.

“UConn went trayless because water conservation was a big issue,” DeMerchant said.

UConn moved to the trayless system in the beginning of the semester. People were annoyed and frustrated at first because they like to get multiple drinks and it was hard to carry the silverware, DeMerchant said.

One of the problems that Strashnick is concerned about also surfaced at UConn. People began leaving things on the tables because they couldn’t carry all of their dirty dishes, DeMerchant said. Strashnick is concerned that the same thing will happen at St. Michael’s and he will need to hire more people to clean the dining hall.

The success of the program will rest on the students’ reactions. If there is not too much negative response after the trial is over, then the changes will be made permanent, Strashnick said.

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