Category Archives: Trayless

Friday Buffet: Campus Report

Don’t look now but “trayless” dining is really taking off. On Earth Day, 300 colleges with Sodexo (they’ve dropped the ‘h’) foodservice went without trays. That means I’ll be plenty busy updating my Trayless tab. The press release (and company blog entry) provided the first estimate of the water savings trayless dining brings–200 gallons conserved […]

April 25, 2008 | Also posted in College, Friday Buffet | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Here’s an article from the newspaper at Iowa’s Luther College, giving the student response to traylessness. The piece was fueled largely by the Facebook group “Caf Trays will destroy the planet!!!! Really?????,” which prompted a letter to the editor complaining about a lack of balance. — — Food recovery in the holy land. Hallelujah! — […]

April 18, 2008 | Also posted in College, Composting, Food Recovery, Friday Buffet, Legislation | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

With Passover just around the corner, it seems ironic that Egyptian bread is in the news. The Financial Times of Germany (even more irony?) reported that 20 percent of Egyptian bread made with subsidized wheat is going to waste. The culprit: Corrupt bakers sell their cheap flour on the black market or deliberately ruin some […]

April 4, 2008 | Also posted in College, Friday Buffet, International, Restaurant, Supermarket | Comments closed

Yes, UConn!

The University of Connecticut concluded a three-week trayless experiment (that we previewed) and it was a success. The per student waste decreased by 28 percent when trays were not available. The first week included food waste awareness materials and weighing food waste to serve as the experiment’s control. The second week, Whitney dining hall went […]

March 10, 2008 | Also posted in College | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

The beef recall saga continues, unfortunately. — — I’m sad to report that students at my alma mater are wasting lots of food. Come on, Wesleyan–you’re better than that. — — On the other side of the college coin, Columbia University has begun a “Trayless Thursdays” experiment. Ditto for Williams College. Not to split hairs, […]

March 7, 2008 | Also posted in College, Food Safety, Friday Buffet, International | Comments closed

The Trayless Tab

As you may have noticed, there’s a new tab on the site: Trayless. I consider the page my repository for keeping track of which colleges and universities are shunning trays to avoid food waste. Please let me know if I’ve missed your school–it’s very much a work in progress. Also, the traylessness doesn’t have to […]

February 20, 2008 | Also posted in College | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

For you science-minded folks, here’s the Table of Condiments that Periodically Go Bad. I love the idea and the title, but disagree with some of the cautious estimates. When was the last time you threw away ketchup after five months (or spelled it ‘ketsup’)? — — This blogger and I could be fast friends. Check […]

February 15, 2008 | Also posted in College, Friday Buffet, Household, International, Restaurant | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Expect some laid back composting at Jack Johnson’s Kokua Festival in Honolulu. While I’m diggin’ the concert’s sweet poster, all I can picture right now is Andy Samberg’s J.J. Casuals SNL faux-mercial. — — Might Massachusetts ban commercial food waste from landfills? — — In the wake of Harvard’s experiment to do away with trays […]

February 7, 2008 | Also posted in College, Composting, Friday Buffet, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Zeitgeist: Thrift

How do I know this trayless dining hall thing is really taking off? Harvard is giving it a whirl. As The Harvard Crimson reports, Quincy House will eliminate trays during Thursday dinners in February. While four nights isn’t a huge commitment, that hasn’t stopped students from complaining. To wit, this whiny lead: The daily challenge […]

February 5, 2008 | Also posted in College, History and Culture | Comments closed