With the excitement that comes along with the start of any semester, one recent development proves to make our eating habits a little greener and our waistlines a little narrower. Sadler Dining Center was recently renovated this summer into a beautiful new dining experience.

Sadler has removed its trays and paper napkins. Diners will now only use cloth napkins and dinner-sized plates.

After years of research and plenty of models from colleges across the nation that have already taken the switch, trayless dining is known for reducing food, water and electricity waste.

While this is a great improvement, the rest of campus must follow suit in order to receive the full benefits of trayless dining.

There are four other main dining centers and other cafés and eateries that can benefit from dining without a tray.

Trays generally accumulate excessive food waste from tray users and require a large amount of water and electricity in its cleaning process.

When using a tray, many fill up the space with an amount of food that the person will not end up eating; even my eyes get bigger than my stomach from time to time, especially when I can fit more food on a large tray.

The retirement of trays from the dining systems has shown the lowering of food waste. Even if a system has composting capabilities, like Syracuse University does in every dining center, waste is still waste. The energy to cultivate, preserve and transport ingredients has gone to waste.

Without dining trays, the upkeep of the trays adds to water and energy conservation. Trays are cleaned in the same manner as the plates, yet the larger surface area consumes more to clean. Taking the trays away conserves water and energy that can then be used for better and brighter things.

In the past five years, many colleges and universities across the nation have accommodated trayless dining into their everyday eating habits. Even articles in The New York Times and USA Today have touted the benefits of taking out trays from dining halls.

Clearly, SU is late to the game, but with the addition of trayless dining in newly revitalized Sadler Dining Center, the rest of campus should follow suit.

In some cases it may be difficult for some students to adjust to dining without a tray, but with the benefits so apparent, it is the environmentally and economically conscious thing to do.

Trays are institutional and cold, while dining with only a plate brings a homey ambience wrapped in a healthier package for this world. It’s a small, simple change that can have monumental effects when occurring over times in high volume on campus.

The things that help to change the world are not only the large protests or leaders of a movement, but the daily actions that we take to make the place we live a little better over time. Sadler is just a start.

Meg Callaghan is an environmental studies major at SUNY-ESF. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at mlcallag@syr.edu.

Published on August 27, 2013 at 2:17 am