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More Colleges Dumping Food Trays

USA Today

posted: 45 DAYS 1 HOUR AGO

comments: 116

filed under: National News

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(July 23) - Something familiar will be missing when students buy meals at many college dining halls this fall: trays.

In a bid to discourage food waste and decrease energy use at all-you-can-eat campus cafeterias, dozens of college dining services — from New York University to University of Minnesota — are giving trays the heave.

Steve Helber, AP

Food trays in many college cafeterias may become a thing of the past, as schools try to discourage food waste and decrease energy use.

With food costs rising and college students increasingly concerned about the imprint their schools leave on the environment, catering giants Aramark and Sodexo have turned going trayless into campus chic. No trays means no place to pile dishes of stuff many students only sample then toss.

Some campuses that already have tested the concept report food waste declines of up to 50%. Then, there's the thousands of dollars in energy savings when trays don't need washing. An astonishing 79% of the 92,000 students surveyed this spring by Aramark said they support trayless dining to reduce campus waste.

"It's a simple idea with profound consequences," says Theo Kalikow, president at the University of Maine-Farmington, which dropped trays last year. "There's less food waste, less energy consumed and less water used." Other trayless schools:

•New York University. In fall, one dining hall that serves 1,000 meals a day will be trayless. By the end of the first semester, 50% of the campus will be trayless, says Owen Moore, director of dining. Food waste has been cut from 4.03 ounces per tray to less than 2.37 ounces.

•University of North Carolina. The Chapel Hill campus nixed trays in two dining halls in October. It's saving thousands of gallons of water monthly by not washing trays, says Scott Myers, dining director.

•University of Florida. To show students why it was dropping trays last year, stacks of trays were tied up with rope, and signs detailed how much energy and water was being saved.

Most of the nation's 4,000 colleges and universities will cut trays from their dining services within the next five years, projects Julian Dautremont-Smith, associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

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"You can't be economically sustainable unless you're environmentally sustainable," says Anthony Cortese, president of Second Nature, a non-profit sustainability group.

For the food-service giants, it's about containing food costs, which have risen 8.2% this year for Aramark. While trayless dining has mostly been a hit with students, faculty and staff at some schools have a harder time, says Chris Stemen, senior director of sustainability at Aramark.

Arlin Wasserman, vice president of corporate citizenship at Sodexo, concedes one blip. While demonstrating at Georgia Tech how to carry an entree, salad and coffee up steps — without a tray — he slipped.

As a result, he chuckles, his khaki pants are no longer khaki.

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2008-07-23 09:29:45

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sixeyes4dinner

05:43 PMAug 25 2008

Just a test to see if I can post the word 'bitching' on another board...

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Fergus3255

05:30 PMJul 24 2008

i a good idea except its hard to carry books etc and a food without a tray...and leaving books unattended...HELL NO!!! some books cost two hundred dollars...steal them and sell on criegs list...students pay alot for the all you can eat option...give them a tray

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Najjarnr

09:59 AMJul 24 2008

i think its a good idea :)

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Cristoba1

02:25 AMJul 24 2008

Wait a minute. it's still a sloppy system. Carrying around foods and drinks with bare hands, so primitive so not civil. You're raising sloppy kids.

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Cristoba1

02:10 AMJul 24 2008

All you can eat buffet? Never mind. Case closed.

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sixeyes4dinner

01:32 AMJul 24 2008

Cristoba1 01:24 AMJul 24 2008 So frikken distasteful without a tray. Isn't it bad enough most guys don't wash their hands after peeing? I see that on a plane. How did that young kid get out so fast, no soapy smell. Oh, he didn't wash his hands. How do you imbeciles expect kids to carry foods? food on one hand and drinks on other hand, no hands left to carry the munch so how in the he-l are these people suppose to reach for money to pay? Messy system, dummies.@@@@@ I've never seen an 'all you can eat' buffet where you didn't pay first........

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Cristoba1

01:24 AMJul 24 2008

So frikken distasteful without a tray. Isn't it bad enough most guys don't wash their hands after peeing? I see that on a plane. How did that young kid get out so fast, no soapy smell. Oh, he didn't wash his hands. How do you imbeciles expect kids to carry foods? food on one hand and drinks on other hand, no hands left to carry the munch so how in the he-l are these people suppose to reach for money to pay? Messy system, dummies.

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Spotkk

12:46 AMJul 24 2008

I agree, how will they go sledding? Who cares about the rest?

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Ernstmulln

08:34 PMJul 24 2008

When customers visit a buffet, they don't use a tray. This should work out the same way, but do save the old trays for sleds!

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AlSax36

06:13 PMJul 23 2008

frankthebum.com has some hilarious photos of people completely destroyng their lunch trays...hilarious!

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