Going trayless, going green

When Darren Achtzehn, the director of food services, first announced the cafeteria was going tray-less on April 2nd, Seton Hill University (SHU) students buzzed, voicing their confusions and frustrations.

By Bethany Merryman

A&E Editor

When Darren Achtzehn, the director of food services, first announced the cafeteria was going tray-less on April 2nd, Seton Hill University (SHU) students buzzed, voicing their confusions and frustrations.

I will admit that I was annoyed. I’m not proud of this fact because I like to think I’m environmentally friendly, but it made getting meals inconvenient. After seeing the figures and listening to fellow students, I have rethought my lazy attitude and hope the school continues to work towards a green community.

“I think [going green on campus] is an absolutely necessary thing,” said senior Laura Fratangelo, “I think students at Seton Hill are wasteful and the higher ups are helping us realize that through taking steps like eliminating trays.”

According to the figures Jaime Steel, the assistant dean of students, sent out to faculty and staff through an email, “In the month of March, wet trash was weighed [by Aramark] Monday through Friday during the weeks that classes were in session.” Wet trash is defined as left over food and does not include napkins, disposable cups, straws, etc.

“Personally I always got a tray, but I realized it didn’t matter if I had one. If I am hungry, I will get more food instead of wasting food,” said Fratangelo.

At first, I thought SHU’s process of going green seemed ineffective. I figured it wouldn’t make a difference if we eliminated such an insignificant item as the trays. I had faith that students would still get too much food and SHU’s attempts in going green would be shattered.

The results were shocking. “During this time, 6,152 pounds of wet trash were collected,” Steel stated in her email. The email also explained that the cost of disposing the trash would cost “$5,529 per month. That’s about $47,000 during the school year. This doesn’t include the water, energy, and soap used to wash the trays or the labor.”
Not only are we wasting three tons of food every month, but we are also wasting thousands of dollars that SHU could be utilizing to improve our campus.

“Students should know that we’re not doing this for just other people, but for ourselves. So that you can live in a clean world,” said Fratangelo.

Achtzehn explained that going tray-less “has had a significant impact on waste.” In March, 6,152 pounds of waste were created, but from April 2nd through the 24th, SHU has produced only 793 pounds.

Financially, this means SHU is only spending about $674 on waste this month rather than the $5,229 spent in March. SHU is off to a fantastic start in going green. The fact that a change so small can have such a huge effect gives hope to SHU’s efforts to better the environment and the campus.

“I still think Seton Hill has a long way to go. Today [April 22nd] is Earth Day, and the cafeteria used paper plates. That tells me we have a long way to go, because nobody even thought about the paper waste,” said Fratangelo.