Trayless dining hall helps VT cut back on food and water waste

By Candice Nelson
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: July 11, 2008

Virginia Tech is taking steps to reduce food and water waste. They’re following the examples of other ACC universities like Clemson and Georgia Tech by eliminating trays from the cafeteria. Although the D2 and Shultz dining centers will still be all-you-can-eat, it will reduce each trip to the food line to all-you-can-carry with your hands.

Before the dining centers went trayless, students would pile plates full of food on the trays, later realizing their eyes were bigger than their stomachs. By the time they were finished, a lot of the food was wasted.

“The sights, the sounds, the smells - the students would go from one venue to the next, and they could get multiple entrees,” said Ted Faulkner with Dining Services.

Now, as students walk away from the table with clean plates, the dining center cut their food waste 38% in their trial week with the new policy. It also means less dish water through the year.

“It’s 650,000 trays that are no longer passing through our dish room, not only saving water, but being good stewards with the chemical consumption and decreasing that,” said Faulkner.

Students can go back for more food if they’re still hungry. If anybody at D2 eats a lot, it’s the football team. Vinston Painter is a freshman, and although he makes several trips for about four or five plates of food, he says it’s worth it.

“That’s great to me the school’s trying to be environmentally safe. I think they’re doing a good thing there,” Painter said.

The school has future plans to use compostable products.

“Anything from single-use silverware, plastic silverware would be corn or sugar-based, converting from some of our styrofoam consumption to that,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner said the trays will still be available for students with special needs.