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 Trayless Dining Initiative
SNU Dining is committed to helping people make sustainable choices about their health, our communities, and the planet we must collaborate to protect. In spring of 2010, SNU Dining will implement the trayless initiative on our campus.
Trayless dining is one significant initiative that helps to minimize waste as well as water and energy usage while creating a more sustainable food service operation. There are many benefits to going trayless in our dining operations, including:
- Electricity, water and chemical usage are reduced because there are far fewer dishes and trays to wash. This effect alone can save thousands of gallons of water every day and generate hundreds of dollars in detergent and electricity savings.
- Less detergents, solid waste and grease down the drain also improves our local community’s water supply. Food materials discharged to local waste water treatment plants contribute to increased levels of BOD (biological oxygen demand), COD (chemical oxygen demand), TSS (total suspended solids), and O/G (oil and grease). Also, food materials discarded into the solid waste stream contribute to odor and methane generation at disposal facilities and to increased BOD and COD levels in local landfills.
- Trayless dining substantially diminishes food waste by encouraging guests to take only the amount of food they can carry.
- Trayless service also provides an overall positive impact on student health. It discourages overeating and requires guests to get up and walk to get more food.
- This service style also cuts back on dining overhead cost because there is no purchase or ongoing replacement cost for trays.
Trayless dining has been implemented with much success on several campuses across the country, including Oklahoma City University, Georgia Tech, Prairie View A&M, Valdosta State, South Carolina State University, Rowan University and UMass Dartmouth. This practice will clearly facilitate more sustainable operations that help to protect our valuable natural resources for the future.
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