On-campus diners go “trayless”
Hoping to reduce food waste, KU Dining Services conducts an experiment to determine how removing trays affects students’ eating habits.
By Joe Preiner (Contact)
Monday, September 29th, 2008
Trays went missing from all three residential dining halls last Wednesday.
But this wasn’t part of some strange crime spree. It was all part of the plan.
KU Dining Services conducted an experiment during the last two weeks aptly named “Try it Trayless.” The idea aims to eliminate much of the food wasted by students in cafeterias. Similar experiments have been successful at other college campuses, including the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of Connecticut,
Photo by Ryan McGeeney
A recent experiment conducted by KU Dining Services investigated the effects of removing trays from dining halls. The study found that removing the trays led to less wasted food. Dining halls will continue to go without trays while the experiment's results are further investigated.
Sheryl Kidwell, assistant director of KU Dining Services, said the results had been calculated and were significant.
Without trays, total liquid waste was reduced by 53.6 percent, food waste was reduced by 38.2 percent and paper waste was reduced by 12.6 percent.
The trial study, which took place on two separate days, measured the amount of food and liquid waste accumulated through three meals at each of the three residential dining halls: Oliver, GSP and Mrs. E’s. On the first day, student volunteers measured the amount of waste people left on their trays.
On the trayless day, which was last Wednesday, volunteers again measured the waste from student meals.
“I think the results are significant and speak volumes to part of the rationale behind this change,” Kidwell said.
Kidwell wandered through Mrs. E’s during the tray-free meals. She said she had heard a wide range of comments from students, most of whom seemed to understand the experiment’s goal. She said many students commented they ate less food without trays, which they said would be good for them in the long run.
Rob Goetsch, Overland Park senior, volunteered at Mrs. E’s for both days of the experiment. He said dining without trays made discarding food easier by reducing the amount of wasted food, but also made washing dished more difficult because the dish-washing system was designed to use trays.
One of the volunteers in the dish room at Mrs. E’s was Kim Hernandez, Hutchinson junior. She said she saw how much students threw away during one dinner session and was shocked.
“Multiply that by three other dining centers and three meals a day and the amount of waste is outrageous,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez, an international studies and environmental studies major, said she noticed students reacted to the situation in different ways. She said some students disliked the change, while others were supportive of the idea and its benefits.
“Students need to start caring more about the world they live in,” Hernandez said. “If this is one way KU Dining Services can help reduce KU’s footprint on the environment, then I am fully supportive of their efforts.”
Kassidy Spring, Garnett sophomore, volunteered in the GSP dining hall. She said the difference in food waste between the two trial days was clearly noticeable. Spring said working with the project made her more conscientious about the amount of food she wasted.
With the promising results of the experiment, Kidwell said, the residence halls will remain without trays while KU Dining Services reviews the experiment’s findings.
“I really feel this proved to be a worthwhile and beneficial trial and going trayless may be the new norm for residential dining,” Kidwell said.
— Edited by Adam Mowder
Discussion
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Thanks for covering this. What a neat little experiment!
I remember freshman year I would get an entire tray of crappy food from Mrs. E's. I would then try to eat it, realized most of it wasn't worth eating and then go get an ice cream bar or something like that. I never went hungry, except on the days there really wasn't anything good at all to eat there, but I still wasted tons of food. Hopefully if we save money by doing this, we can get better quality food in the dining halls.
Notice the lack of actual students who eat at Mrs. E's every day featured in the article.
This is a promo piece; a P.R. article for the Trayless thing that KU Dining has probably been planning to do since the beginning of the year.
According to the signs E's had up, this was supposed to be ONE DAY. Nowhere on the signs did it say anything about being from Wednesday on.
And the "Results" are a P.R. push to get students to think this is okay.
Every student I have talked to in E's has hated the idea. I see students dropping things, making 5 trips per meal to get a balanced meal (entree, salad, side, dessert, drink), and who knows how hard it is to try to sift through all the loose plates in the dishroom.
And what are they going to do with the carts made to carry trays? The silverware island built to have trays underneath? The dishwashing system built to accommodate trays?
And what the heck are they going to do with all those trays?
KU Dining obviously didn't think this through. They just wanted to cut costs, but found a way to make it seem like they're really "concerned for the environment."
If the dining halls are saving so much money by not using trays (54% on beverages, 38% on food, and 12% on paper) then we should all be reembersed for those savings. We paid for all of that food that they are now saving and not getting any of it, or a tray to put any of it on for that matter.
Also, data taken from one day's activities does not warrant a legit experiment. If they want real, usable data, then they need a longer sample time to account for who eats in the dining hall on a specific day and what is being served.
I'm sure over time they'll find that it does reduce waste. If this is the case they should decrease the price of a meal plan.
Students that are forced to go without trays should get reimbursed for the money that went towards buying, cleaning, storing, and maintaining those trays. I have a feeling it might be a sizable chunk of money, and KU Dining will find some reason to take the same amount of money they have in the past, even more, and not tell the students that they cut costs big time and haven't used the extra funds for anything constructive.
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