LAST YEAR a student group on Grounds, Green Dining, attempted to start a trend where once every week students would eat in the dining hall without trays. This effort was called "Trayless Tuesdays," although maybe it should now be referred to as "Trayless Tuesday," because that's exactly how long the idea lasted. In response to a significant amount of student anger -- and even a lead editorial in The Cavalier Daily -- the trays were duly returned, and students were free to take a tray every day.
I, on the other hand, thought Trayless Tuesdays were a genius idea. As a child I was a complete environmental buff. I was thoroughly convinced that somewhere out there wandered four horsemen (distant cousins of the apocalyptic ones) whose names were Plastic, Water, Aluminum and Oil, who were just waiting for the environmental judgement day to pounce on the wasteful and irresponsible. Although I lost this delusion over time, I maintained a slightly fearful desire to be environmentally friendly.
I already knew washing trays accounted for a third of the water dining used, so with the relatively little effort required by Trayless Tuesdays I suddenly felt very snooty and environmentally conscious. Everyone else at my table, however, felt slightly differently.
"The initial student response was that people were pretty upset that their trays were gone," Ben Chrisinger, chair of Student Council's Environmental Sustainability committee, said. The committee is looking to start a program that would be similar to Trayless Tuesdays this year. Learning from last year's mistakes though, the committee is trying to take a different approach, especially on the educational side of things.
"We need first years to support it for it to work," Chrisinger said. "Whenever dining does a pilot program for anything they do it at O-Hill, and since O-Hill is predominantly used by first-years, we need them to be informed of what's going to happen, and also know what it's affecting. I think one of the misconceptions last year was that this was just some plot by Dining [Services] to save them money."
Though it's true that Aramark would save money in having to wash fewer trays, Aramark is a national food corporation. They cater not only to colleges but also to sports stadiums, assisted living complexes and correctional institutions. Having to wash fewer trays at the University is probably not really going to do that much to Aramark's bottom line. Reducing the amount of water used in dining, however, could be a big step for the University in helping the environment.
Besides the suspicion that Aramark was simply trying to save money, one of the other most frequent concerns raised about Trayless Tuesdays was that not having trays was simply inconvenient. The lead editorial in The Cavalier Daily declared, "Students who feel strongly that trays shouldn't be used in the dining halls should take one decisive action: not pick up a tray when they go into the dining hall." This is a good point -- the inherent problem with it is that people won't just stop taking trays. New ideas don't just spark themselves. Picking up trays is a force of habit, and people aren't going to stop unless somehow prompted.
In 2002 this prompt came in the form of a drought. For awhile, the University simply discontinued the use of trays in order to save water. Quite a few friends I knew in my first and second year simply didn't use trays because they had found dining without them more convenient.
This is the same revelation Trayless Tuesdays brought me. As we experience yet another drought, it's high time to think the trayless concept over again. If students really feel so inconvenienced by having to go a whole day a week without trays, perhaps the days could be diminished to once a month. Or, there could be one day a week where trays were available only on request. Even something so simple as removing trays from plain sight should help. Otherwise there might come that eventual day where we find ourselves facing the wrong end of Plastic's giant spork of vengeance. And quite frankly, that just won't be pretty.
Margaret Sessa-Hawkins' column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at msessahawkins@cavalierdaily.com.
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