Parkhurst, in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability, is taking steps to reduce the money spent on single-use utensils by implementing new reusable plates, bowls and mugs in McKinley’s starting on Monday, Oct. 21. Student sustainability and marketing interns were at McKinley’s for the lunch and dinner hours the entire week prior to the change to explain the process. In addition, the staff directed students on where to put the new dishes in order for them to be cleaned.
Weekly meetings between Parkhurst General Manager Maria Foxall and the Office of Sustainability are where the idea of reusable dishes in McKinley’s Dining Hall originated. The first reusable items included plates, bowls and mugs that are all made from melamine, a type of hard plastic that is in many reusable dishes.
Instead of china dishes, melamine was chosen because it is easily transportable. Sustainability Coordinator Kurt Hatcher, ’07, said that the limited dishwasher capacity in McKinley’s has been a prior reason for providing single-use items. To address the issue, trucks will be transporting the dishes to the Schultz Banquet Hall to be cleaned there.
“We have a beautiful dish room in Schultz with lots of, like, room for grime,” Foxall said.
The large kitchen and dishwasher area in Schultz is already being utilized for prepping food, as well as making all of the baked goods available in McKinley’s. Trucks already transport items between both dining halls, so Hatcher said the addition of the reusables will not be a problem.
The environmental impact of this change is a significant reduction in waste, materials and energy from the disposables. Director of Sustainability Kelly Boulton, ’02, wants to create a culture of environmental consciousnesses at Allegheny and beyond.
“We are always thinking about how do we cultivate habits with our students on campus that you then take with you once you leave here,” Boulton said.
McKinley’s used to operate as more of a retail operation with its various stations to order food, pay and go. Now, it is operating as more of a board operation similar to Brooks Dining Hall. Foxall cites this shift as another reason for moving away from single-use items.
“This is a dining hall,” Foxall said while in the Brooks Blue Room. “It is no longer a retail space, so I think that you will get more of a homey feeling (in McKinley’s) that you have here.”
McKinley’s workers and students have had some differing opinions on the change. Foxall said that most of the employees have a pretty neutral attitude towards the change. Most likely, they are just a little nervous due to it being something new; it may be a bit of a learning curve.
McKinley’s worker Braden Calzada is excited about the new reusables to enhance the dining experience.
“I feel like they are just better for holding more,” Calzada said of the new plates and bowls.
He gave a specific example of the melamine bowls being able to hold a rice bowl from Cinco better than the current paper bowls.
Some students are unsure if this change will be beneficial or not to them. Jerrell Galloway, ’28, is a fan of the current single-use item system and does not see a need for the change.
“I think Kins was succeeding with these ones (paper plates), the ones you can throw away,” Galloway said while eating dinner at McKinley’s.
On top of this, there were worries about the amount of time and workers needed to clean the dishes. Students cited questions like, “Would lines become longer?” and “Would wait times increase?”
When brought to Foxall’s attention, she pointed to the fact that the dishes would be washed in Schultz. She does not see any negative effect on the student dining experience.
As the dishes will have to be cleaned, students will not be able to walk out with them as they were with the paper plates and bowls. The alternative for take-out options is the Green Box Program. Boulton said that the Green Box Program has to work hand-in-hand with the transition to reusable dining ware.
Boulton and Hatcher recognize that some may be unfamiliar with the green boxes, so they are working hard to ensure that students know of the program’s existence and have the Reuzzi app downloaded. By having this information out ahead of time, students can better adapt and be prepared for changes.
The green boxes are in a constant rotation, moving from both dining halls and to Schultz to be washed there. There have not been any shortages of the boxes this year, according to Boulton and Hatcher.
A number of students at McKinley’s were either not too familiar with the program or had some issues with it. One of the issues was the 48-hour time frame that the boxes are recommended to be returned in.
Boulton said that the boxes get pretty gross after 48 hours, and the time frame is partially so that boxes are not festering in dorm rooms, compromising health and smell. Hatcher echoed the same point of view by pointing out problems experienced this year.
“We’ve already lost some boxes that were kept out for a lot longer, and they’ve grown things,” Hatcher said. “It’s compromised the box in such a way that we can’t put it back in service.”
The reusable aspect of the boxes is only beneficial if they are actually being reused. Despite these arguments for the time frame, the Office of Sustainability wants to assure students that there is no penalty for returning it past the time. The only repercussion is earning fewer points on the Reuzzi app. These points can amount to free food rewards.
The important thing is that students are actually returning the boxes. These point incentives are in place to prompt students to bring them back as soon as possible to be made clean again and put back in circulation.
The return rate is high so far this school year as 99.35% of what is in circulation has been returned — a sharp contrast to last year when the return rate was 4%, according to Hatcher.
As of Friday, Oct. 18, at 9:34 a.m., the Green Box Program has prevented 6,375 single-use items from ending up in the landfill. Boulton is positive that this number will continue to increase. This year is anticipated to be transitional for the program with some growing pains, but it is expected to surge after students get into the habit of bringing boxes back.
“After that, that (6,375) will be a small number compared to what we will be able to do,” Boulton stated.
With 578 current users, the Green Box Program is expected to grow and have an even greater positive environmental impact. This number of students is about half of the campus, but Boulton is seeking more participants.
“If everyone who uses it got one more person to sign up,” Boulton said, “it would move the needle significantly.”