I’ve stopped noting when individual schools go trayless because it has become too hard to keep track (a great problem to have, of course). But I have to make an exception here with the news that my alma mater, Wesleyan, is going trayless next fall.
That said, I’m curious what the heck took such an environmentally aware campus this long. The Connecticut school now has Trayless Tuesdays, but lags behind hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities that have eliminated trays in all-you-can-eat settings to reduce food waste.
The full-time traylessness announcement sparked a fairly typical dialogue in the comments section of this post. Some of the comments are well put, others less so. I have to admit, I enjoyed #27.
On the topic of financial savings, though, I would hope that the students hold the administration’s collective feet to the fire. Since the students’ small sacrifice will result in less food being purchased, they should benefit, too. The school probably won’t lower board rates, but something like increased local or organic offerings or a pledge not to increase board prices next year sounds right.
Comments
3 responses to “Wesleyan To Drop Tray”
Wow, that’s awesome! Too bad my younger brother just decided not to go there, lol.
Trayless Tuesdeays savings turn into Filet Mignon Fridays; what better way to pat yourself on the back than with a juicy piece of the tender love-handle of a steer?
I suspect the reason why your alma mater took so long to come around is because teaching environmentalism doesn’t necessitate any substantive change in behavior. It’s just like people who talk about opposing the wars that are driven by our thirst for oil, and continue to drive their cars. The speeches and the teachings don’t lead your actions anywhere necessarily–those are steps that you have to decide to take and come from a different impulse altogether. You have to make a conscious decision to make changes every day, and it can take a long time to renegotiate habits you have been nurturing for years. At the end of the day, even if it looks like an environmentalist, sounds like an environmentalist, smells like an environmentalist and feels like an environmentalist, it doesn’t mean that it acts like an environmentalist, and that’s what going trayless is all about: challenging each person to change the way that they act.
Peace and Love,
Dan
I agree with you Dan. Going trayless hasn’t gotten the same attention as a “green” initiative that changing light bulbs or reusing shopping bags has gotten nationally. As some of the comments on Wesleying showed, many students don’t see this as an environmental or food saving initiative and therefore don’t see why their regular routine should be disturbed.
Since Wesleyan is local to me, though, I’m glad to see it making these changes.