Trayless Programme

In a further effort to raise the Environmental-friendly rating of the College, the Sadler Center Cafeteria will soon go trayless, this following the removal of trays in the Commons Dining Hall last spring. The Green fees that we voted for were bad enough. With a $200 000 endowment to help us become greener, we’re now theoretically cutting spending in our cafeterias by going trayless. This is such a flawed argument in many ways. The Trayless program warrants the rise of students’ irritation levels, no doubt. But more than that, students need to know that they have been sold a bill of goods here. Why is this program a flawed effort?

Notice when you bring your used dishes to the conveyer belt to be washed. Water is constantly running, and it doesn’t slow down in light of fewer things to clean. It runs and runs, and now the water is no longer being optimized. If we are using the water, why not use it to clean trays. A driving theory behind the trayless program is that we will save on energy by washing fewer things. However, because the water is continuously running, we are still using the same amount of water. Unless we start turning the dishwashers off, there is no conceivable way that we are using a significantly lower portion of water.

Another argument that has been brought is that the trayless program reduces the amount of wasted food. Although a study showed that per pound, less food has been wasted, it still has not been enough to counter student frustration. Sophomore Joey Salvatore said, “It’s very irritating. I like to eat a lot, but now I can’t eat as much as I would like because I have to make multiple trips to get what I want. I don’t have an unlimited amount of time, so now I feel like I’m leaving my meals everyday still hungry”. I agree with Mr Salvatore. I also have to make multiple trips to get what I want, and even if I get all the food I want in one trip, I still have to put my food down before I get myself a drink. In a broad sense, I have to spend more time getting food and less time eating the highly nutritious Caf food. It’s a total waste of my time, and it is not fun. But that is just the tip of the iceburg.

One thing that has really irritated me is the amount of mess left on the tables and floors in the Caf due to the trayless initiative. Now that we don’t have trays on which to make a mess, we have the tables. Let’s all be honest – no one really cleans after themselves. I have yet to see a single student carry around a damp rag in order to clean their tables at the Caf. When I go to the Caf every day, there are plenty of tables available. Most of the unoccupied tables, however, are laden with old food and other messes. This presents a health hazard, as many germs can be spread inadvertently through saliva, which can come into contact with the tables. Sophomore Mariana Smith complained of the state of tables at the Caf, “I lose my appetite every time I sit down because the tables are so filthy.” With the recent school budget cut, we cannot afford to hire extra workers to make sure the tables are clean, and the Caf workers preparing and serving our food are too busy to abandon their work to clean the tables. The tables could be a lot cleaner if the trays were brought back, and then the dishwashers could clean our messes left on our trays. In short, becoming green runs the risk of becoming green around the gills. I choose my health over the environmental rating.

The effects of the trayless initiative are inconclusive. The goal of reducing water use and food waste has not been met. But, we now have water being used to clean nothing, a messy cafeteria, and students whose little time is being wasted. Unfortunately, all of this is about to spread to the UC Cafeteria. What can we expect? More water wasted, longer lines, messier cafeterias, a higher risk of catching other peoples’ germs, and the irritation of knowing that you are paying more in tuition for this swarming inconvenience. But, on the bright side, because we are supposedly going to be spending less on operating the cafeterias, I’m am certain that we will start to see a reduction in the price we pay in our tuition to go to the cafeterias. Or am I just wildly dreaming?

It is really a mystery to me why someone would see the logic, or, better yet, how someone wouldn’t see the irretrievable illogic in the trayless program. Going trayless isn’t going to turn our campus a brighter shade of green. In the words of Chuck Noblet, “You can’t unfry things…You can’t be something you’re not.”