The campaign to dine tray-free is merely one among many as colorful placards decorate De Neve dining hall’s tables and encourage students to participate in a variety of worthy causes, from donating blood to downloading music legally.
The small green sticker reminding students to “Dine Tray-Free” and the fine print that asks them to save energy, conserve water and reduce food waste may be inadequate.
Many students mindlessly grab a tray and start piling food on top without pausing to digest yet another “do good” message. To solidify an environmentally conscious effort on campus, UCLA Dining Services should remove all dining trays from circulation.
Such a measure across the board would prevent even the occasional usage of trays, which would in turn take substantial steps in water conservation and environmental responsibility.
UCLA Dining Services already has several sustainable initiatives in place including “beef-less Thursdays” and implementing compost and recycling programs for food packaging from residential restaurants. While these efforts are commendable, removing trays from dining areas is one of the most direct avenues through which the Hill can reduce its footprint.
Currently, Hedrick’s dining hall is the only completely tray-free dining facility. Dining services removed the dining hall’s trays in 2009 in order to save water and reduce both food waste and energy consumption, according to the Annual UCLA Foodservices Sustainability Policy Report. Before Hedrick’s trays were permanently removed, 240 students were surveyed and more than 80 percent expressed satisfaction with the projected conservation of both water and cleaning supplies.
Removing trays saved Hedrick 6,300 gallons of water in one month alone.
Despite such environmental benefits and positive reactions from students in a pilot study, the efforts still have not been extended to other dining halls.
Alex Macias, the assistant director of dining services, said that while UCLA Dining Services strive to be sustainable, they must also serve the needs of the students.
Some of UCLA Dining Services’ concerns regarding tray-free dining include increased breakage of dishes and decreased consumer satisfaction, Macias said.
But judging from Hedrick’s example, the dishes are still intact and the students are as satisfied as ever. Macias said they have not had any complaints from students about the tray removal, nor have they seen an increase in broken plates.
UCLA, having seen the favorable results of Hedrick’s program, should remove trays from all dining halls in order to maximize conservation of water and reduce food waste.
Hedrick has often been acknowledged as the least-visited dining hall and was actually closed for the duration of last fall quarter to undergo renovations.
For this reason, the tray-free policy has clearly been under-utilized. Removing the trays from the more populated dining halls, such as De Neve’s dining hall, would provide a more significant environmental impact.
Last week, the United Nations launched a new campaign entitled “Think, Eat, Save” in order to combat global food waste. Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food are lost or wasted globally each year, according to the campaign’s website.
UCLA must do its part to help reduce this alarming statistic. On average, all of the dining facilities on the Hill generate 50 tons of food waste each month, Macias said.
The 50 tons of food wasted each month come primarily from consumers – everyone eating in the dining halls. It’s up to students to step up to the plate and eliminate post-consumer waste at the tray-return. Students should also take it upon themselves to identify ways to improve UCLA’s environmentally focused efforts both on the Hill and on campus.
Meanwhile, UCLA should take the extra step to assist consumers and help reduce waste by expanding their tray removal to more heavily used dining halls like De Neve.
Hedrick became tray-free four years ago. It’s time to finish the job by taking steps to dine sustainably in all residential restaurants.
Email Beck at mbeck@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu or tweet us @DBOpinion.