Trayless Tuesdays

With an average of 70 gallons of water being saved and food waste reduced by 50% universities all over the Country are taking part in what they like to call “Trayless Tuesday’s.”
Trayless Tuesday’s was a program designed to eliminate the amount of water used to wash the trays in a cafeteria and to help reduce the amount of wasted food by taking away trays, leaving students with only plates to fill.
Although students from all over including University of Minnesota, New York University, Concordia University, and even right here on UNK’s campus express the inconvenience of the Trayless Tuesday’s, statistics show that it is a very effective program.
The cafeteria right here on UNK’s campus did a trial run on Trayless Tuesday’s during the months of November and December hoping to receive positive feedback from not only the students at UNK but the food budget. Chartwells, the dining company at UNK has decided to make Trayless Tuesday’s part of daily dining starting in January 2009.
But the real debate here doesn’t lie in whether or not it is convenient or inconvenient for the students. The real debate is being educating the students on how much water it takes to wash all the trays in one particular day. This also leads us to take into account how much food is being wasted due to the convenience of the trays.
According to Dineoncampus.com a study showed that if there were approximately 600 students in a cafeteria in one day, it takes approximately 100 minutes to wash all the trays adding up to 70 gallons of water going to waste. Schools that go trayless one day per week reduce waste by an average of 1/3 on those days some reporting as much as a 50% reduction in waste, in turn reducing food cost by 4.9%.
It is obvious that Trayless Tuesday’s is effective but convenience is still overpowering the minds of students, every Tuesday.
Although Trayless Tuesday’s has a catching ring to it, why Tuesdays? Would it be just as effective if students were forced to forgo trays on both Saturday and Sunday’s when typically, the cafeteria isn’t as busy?
Perhaps educating students on the reason this is being done and showing students visually and statistically the effects what one day without trays can do, they will support Trayless Tuesday’s
Kelly McPherson from ABC news did an interview with a student at Morrisville State, he explains if he tray he probably would have ended up wasting half of what he picked up and by only having a plate he will more than likely eat everything on it.
Students see both the pros and cons but in order to get support there needs to be more time spent on educating students on the reasons why the action is being taken rather than enforcing the action. With that being said there needs to be more than just a random sign placed randomly in the middle of the cafeteria saying “save water, go trayless.” Although students are not going to spend twenty minutes reading an article while listening to their stomachs growl, statistics placed around the cafeteria along with pictures will better set the stage for the change.
Trayless Tuesday’s is a great way to make a change, but we need to get everyone to believe it, let’s educate those around us all while eating trayless.