Say Good-bye to Lunch Trays

While driving home yesterday, I heard a fascinating story on NPR about...lunch trays!

Apparently many colleges, especially in the south, are doing away with them. The main reason for doing so is to save water. Florida Southern College (FSC) anticipates saving 1,000 gallons a day which adds up to 200,000 gallons for the academic year.

Wow.

In addition to saving water needed to wash the trays, colleges who stop using them can also save electricity needed to run dishwashers and gas needed to heat the water.

And, if that weren't enough, students are already finding that they eat less food now that they have to carry individual plates.

"It's definitely made you more aware of what you're eating and what you're carrying with you," said Bryant Manning, president of FSC's Student Government Association.

Who knows, the end of the lunch tray might signal the end of the "Freshman Fifteen." (The fifteen extra pounds most college freshman gain.)

Finally, colleges are also finding that students are wasting less food too. FSC estimates that 25% less food is ending up in the trash.

Having attended two local institutions of higher learning, I called my alma maters to see if they were still using trays in the dining rooms. Mary Kingery, who oversees the dining facilities at Rhodes on behalf of Aramark, said that a campus group looked into going trayless in the refectory, but that unfortunately due to the lack of space, set up of the dining hall, and age of the building it just wasn't feasible. I also confirmed that the Tiger Den at the University of Memphis is still using trays. No word yet from CBU...anyone know?

I really like hearing stories about little things that make a big difference! Of course after listening to the story, I started to wonder what was going to happen to all of the unused trays. I can only hope that they get turned into decorative home accessories rather than end up in the landfill. I'll keep my eyes peeled at the Cooper Young Festival this Saturday!