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Caf goes trayless

28 March 2008 | By Mike Crump, Flat Hat Assoc. News Editor | The Flat Hat » news

Students eating lunch at the Commons Dining Hall yesterday and today found themselves without trays in an effort to reduce food and water waste.

The trial, led by the Student Environmental Action Coalition, began when a dining hall employee read an article in The Flat Hat about similar programs at Alfred University in New York and Colby College in Maine. The employee then passed the idea on to Commons Director Larry Smith.

“Lots of schools have had success with [programs like] this in the past,” Smith said. “The Caf seemed like the perfect place to try it out.”

Smith, better known to students as “Caf man,” said he was inspired by the article and sought out SEAC to begin work on a proposal. Smith said that the Caf would work best of all the dining halls on campus due to its variety of food options and the number and close proximity of plates.

“At the Marketplace, going trayless would be impossible, and the UC is all over the place,” Smith said. “At the Caf, you want your food, [and] the plate is right there.”

The program operates on the principle that, with trays, students are likely to take more food and not give much thought to how much they will actually eat. Ultimately, much of this food ends up in the trash. Without a tray, however, students might be more wary of what they pick up.

“The mission of this campaign is to foster responsible eating,” SEAC co-facilitator Josh Wayland ’08 said. “Any way we can reduce food waste, we will [… With a trayless program], students take less food at first and, if they eat it all, then of course they can go back for seconds.”

Originally, plans called for a week-long trial, but this trial length was shortened when those involved worried that such a rapid change would discourage people from seeing its potential merit.
“This way, if people don’t originally like it, they can relax for a couple days,” Smith said.

SEAC members are collecting data on food waste and hope to see the effects by the end of the month. Though no numbers currently exist, several members of Dining Services have already noticed a change.

“People’s plates aren’t as full as if they’d had a tray,” employee Delphine Bartlett said. “They’re taking smaller portions to allow for more kinds of food.”

Student response to the program has largely been positive.
“If it reduces waste, I’m all for it,” Anushya Ramaswamy ’10 said.
Others reported that their already limited use of trays made the transition easy.

“I never use trays anyways,” Kate Tyler ’10 said. “They make me feel like an awkward freshman. I’m anti-tray.”

However, not all response has been positive.

“It’s a pain in the ass to not have a tray to carry all my bloody plates,” James Muirhead ’11 said. “[Making trips] is inconvenient.”
After the trial period, SEAC is hoping the program will be enacted permanently to reduce the College’s environmental footprint.

  1. Ok- so we are doing this to reduce waste…. What about parents that pay meal prices? Is anyone going to reduce the amount that we pay for students to eat, since they will be eating less, or is all of the savings in using less food going back to food services?


    — WM Parent    Mar 28, 11:48 AM    #

  2. Haha, good point. Yes, we COULD save money by requiring students to take no more than 9 credits a semester, but keep the tuition the same price! Haha. The brilliance of the SEAC...environmentalist nitwits.


    — John R. Kennedy '08    Mar 28, 04:28 PM    #

  3. If you think about it though, nobody is going to leave hungry. This is still an all-you-can-eat situation, and though there may be some inconvenience to having to return for more food, it doesn’t seem like that’s much of a hassle if your stomach is still growling. What is more likely to happen is that students will not take three desserts back to their table, or more food than they can possibly eat, reducing waste and making eating at the Caf a healthier proposition. I say cheers!


    — Joe Smith    Mar 29, 10:46 AM    #

  4. John, I’m not a huge fan of some of SEAC’s programs, but I don’t really think that calling them “nitwits” on an internet forum is a particularly effective way of communicating that criticism.

    That said, perhaps compromise by offering smaller plates and trays?

    Also, not all students have their tuition paid for by their parents. I’ve never quite understood how that mentality became quite so common….


    — andrew    Mar 29, 04:34 PM    #

  5. OK- regardless who pays, does the parent or the student get reduced meal prices since less food is being used?


    — WM Parent    Mar 29, 10:17 PM    #

  6. William and Mary meal plans aren’t actually provided by the school, but contracted out. Whether or not the price of a meal plan goes down is entirely unrelated to the amount of water we save by not washing trays.

    And John Kennedy… I strongly suspect you need a little work with reading comprehension.


    — Jason Durso    Mar 31, 03:42 PM    #

  7. Studies have shown that food waste is cut by 30-50 percent by removing trays from dining facilities.

    http://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/2008/01/30/a-novel-way-to-cut-waste-lose-the-cafeteria-trays/

    It follows, then, that food expenditures would go down, as less food is used. The less we spend on food, the less we have to pay Aramark, the more money the College has available.


    — Philip Zapfel '09    Mar 31, 07:39 PM    #

  8. That is a good thing, but as money is saved, do the savings get passed on to the consumer, to put more money in the pockets of those paying the expenses? Does the college and Aramark reap the benefits of keeping the prices inflated, even though less food is being purchased because students are consuming 30-50 percent less? Just a basic economics question that needs to be thrown out there for consideration. Less impact on the environment, students eating better and people paying less for meal plans! What a country!


    — WM Parent    Apr 1, 08:56 AM    #

  9. Here is another basic economics question. If food prices go up during the semester, does the college and the contractor have the right to ask the consumer for cost increase? I don’t know of any school that has raised prices in the middle of a semester to accomodate unexpected price increases – whether it a meal plan or tuition. There would be a revolt if they did. Seems a bit hypocritcal to expect a rebate when costs go down, without acknowleding an increase if prices rise. Gas stations and grocery stores do it once a week. Colleges set their prices once a year. Shouldn’t college’s be allowed to do the same? Just an alternative viewpoint for consideration.


    — DoingMyResearch    May 2, 03:19 PM    #