Study to take trays from Market Central

Could cafeteria trays be one of the leading causes of food waste at Pitt? Members of a campus… Could cafeteria trays be one of the leading causes of food waste at Pitt? Members of a campus group Free the Planet plan to find out. For the next three weeks, the group said they will weigh food thrown out at Market Central with cafeteria trays against wasted food collected from trayless students. ‘I was always upset with the amount of food waste I saw at Market Central. I would walk around and see trays with a piece of pizza not even touched up on the conveyer belt headed back to the kitchen,’ said Jessica Herbe, secretary of Free the Planet and head of the study. ‘The waste makes me mad because so many places need food, and we get all this food that we don’t even need or want.’ Free the Planet will track the waste for ‘tray’ days Tuesday and Wednesday and for ‘trayless’ days March 3 and 4, said Herbe. ‘Everyone in our group is pretty interested. Volunteers signed up quickly,’ said Herbe. ‘We will be scraping all of the students leftover food waste into bags then weighing them on a scale provided by Sodexo, so you know we have dedicated members.’ ‘ The group will release the results of the study after spring break. Herbe said she hopes that Market Central could be trayless by next fall if the study shows significant data in its favor. Trays would still be on hand for people with special needs and the conveyer belt if the change goes through, she said. Free the Planet supports green projects, practices and studies at the University. In the past, the group has brought Ralph Nader to visit and hosted Swap-O-Palooza, a clothing exchange event. The group made the trayless dining project in Market Central one of its main focuses this semester. ‘The goal gives us something to strive for, something to do and something to accomplish,’ said Herbe. Free the Planet was inspired by a study called ‘The Business and Cultural Acceptance Case for Trayless Dining,’ which came out last summer. ARAMARK Higher Education, the group that organized the study, observed 186,000 meals at 25 colleges and universities. The study found that students produced 25 to 30 percent less waste on days when they didn’t use trays. Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., was one of the study participants. The school reported that it was able to reduce waste costs by $79,000 annually by foregoing trays. It reduced 56 pounds of waste per person in a year. That adds up to 14 tons of total waste. ‘Sustainability studies reduce waste while saving the environment and money, they tend to go hand in hand,’ said Herbe. Free the Planet presented information from ARAMARK to the Market Central staff to gain support for the study. Free the Planet volunteers tabled at the entrance of Market Central last week to talk with students and answer questions about the potential change. The general student body had mixed feelings about the study. ‘ ‘I use a tray pretty much every time I come down [to Market Central], it’s convenient and I can put everything on them,’ said freshman Andrew Frank. ‘ But he said he might reconsider if Free the Planet proves that tray removal is efficient. ‘ ‘If it was a large percentage at least,’ he said. While some students are reluctant to support the project, others like sophomore Lauren McAleer are eager to give it their approval. ‘I only take the food I can carry without a tray usually,’ said McAleer. ‘Students just pile more food on when they have trays. I would definitely support a movement that got rid of trays if it reduced a great amount of waste.’ Herbe said the change will only occur if students approve of it. ‘We want to know what the student body is thinking, but at the same time we want them to realize what a difference this transformation could make,’ said Herbe.