Leave My Lunch Trays Alone!
Almost every day I eat at Buckeye Express (affectionately called BuckYuk for the effect it has on some students), and I grab a plastic tray. I tend to get popcorn chicken, french fries, a cup of Powerade, a Rice Crispy Treat, and a Nutty Bar. That would be a pain in the ass to try to carry without the plastic tray and the cardboard boxes they put the fries and chicken in. What’s the point of all this? The plastic tray is under attack in the name of “saving water” and “conserving energy” on college campuses:
Scores of colleges and universities across the country are shelving the trays in hopes of conserving water, cutting food waste, softening the ambience and saving money. Some even believe trayless cafeterias could help avoid the dreaded “freshman 15” — the number of pounds supposedly gained in the first year on campus (and on all-you-can-eat meal plans). “I like not having to carry a tray around,” said Peter McInerney, a freshman here at Skidmore College, as he grabbed a midafternoon snack of an egg sandwich, pancakes and apple juice. “It makes it feel like this is less of a machine just spitting food out. It’s still not home, but it feels more homey without the tray.”
Peter, I love the feeling that this system is a machine that spits out food, because that means it’s dependable. I don’t want it to feel like home because I spend 1/3 of my year at home making food for myself and burdening my parents with my ultra-picky eating habits. At least here I can make the selections on my own and get food where I want it when I want it. The plastic tray facilitates that, so I don’t care if it uses more water, leave my lunch trays alone!
They did the same this year at Cedarville! It was a pain in the but for a while… but you get used to it. We still even have a few trays lying out for people if they really want them. But I agree its a silly and completely unnecessary inconvenience.
Screw that, I would bring my own tray.
If they take away my tray (made with hydro-carbons) to help conserve water, how am I supposed to increase my “carbon footprint”!
I work for Campus Dining Services and I can tell you that the tray thing isn’t about saving water (which it doesn’t do). It’s about cutting food waste. The idea is, without a tray kids are less likely to load up on lots of food that only gets half eaten.
Of course, this works around the more reasonable solution of doing away with meal swipes and just charging on a per entree or per plate basis.
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