At the University of Minnesota and many other schools nationwide, lunch trays have become a thing of the past and have been taken out of their cafeterias. Colleges discover that not using trays saves money and helps the environment by reducing waste and cleaning. There is less food uneaten and less water and detergent used in washing. But many students, if not all, oppose this change. Juggling all that food without a base is definitely not easy, as one freshman puts it: "it's kind of a pain in the butt."
I never actually considered that something as petty as a cafeteria tray would affect the environment or really save a decent amount of money. If this is completely true, then I would definitely agree with removing trays. Saving money is always a good option, and students would not be sacrificing much; they could also just go up for seconds if need be. If we didn't have trays at our school, I don't think that it would affect anything much because no one seems to get a lot of food anyway.
~ Outside Reading #2
Shelman, Jeff. "Students take a crash course in Trayless Dining 101." Star Tribune. 30 Sept. 2008.
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7 comments:
I agree with you 100% Brenden! I think that if removing lunch trays from the school cafeteria helps out our environment, we should be all for it. I know that in the South View cafeteria, food came in paper trays that were then put on larger plastic trays that had to be washed and taken care off. If people really have so much food that they cannot carry it all, they should make two trips. They will be getting a little extra exercise, something we all need, and are helping the environment. What's not to love?! If such a little thing as getting rid of plastic lunch trays makes such a big difference, everyone should jump on the bandwagon and make it happen.
I agree with you Hannah, it is such a small sacrafice to make to help our environment and save money. Not many people at our school really seem to even use trays, most just carry their food so it wouldn't empact that many people. Also as Hannah said we could use the excercise in making second trips! I think this would be a great experiment to try out at our school. Why not help out the environment and save a little money?
i've never really thought of how something as little as not using lunch trays really could help the enviroment! i think that more schools should get rid of lunch trays, especially now when money is tight.
I think that plastic re-useable trays are okay usually but styrofoam trays are a HUGE waste of money. Styrofoam is non-biodegradable and honestly i don't understand why people would want them in the first place. I really don't think I have used a tray all year, and most people really do not. Also, the re-useable trays do waste water, but overall, if trays are necessary, then re-useable ones are what everyone needs to start using.
I'm going to have to disagree with Meghan here. If very little people use trays, then there isn't really going to be that much of a benefit gained from phasing them out. I think trays should be kept in, because the students who don't need them wouldn't use them anyways. So the students who do need them, probably have a good reason. If you want to support the environment, that's great. Don't use a tray then. But if I'm carrying 3 plates I sure want to be able to use a tray and not have to worry about spilling them.
I agree that discontinuing use of plastic trays would be a beneficial thing for the environment and the school's budget. When you consider the slight inconvenience of carrying your food without a tray or making two trips for lunch in comparison with large environmental and school funding problems, discontinuing tray usage seems quite worth it. The problem is making it actually happen; as Brenden's blog comments illustrate, many people feel the same as I do on this issue, yet our school still has trays.
I think you make some good pints. Nobody really buys so much food in the cafetaria they can't hold it without a tray. Without trays a lot of money could be saved and put to other uses. It's not that big of a deal overall.
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