Class raises ‘going trayless’ with Senate

Your name

Sun Dec 20 2009 18:53

Wow Jim Siegel, thanks for triple posting. It really helped get your point across.

Jim Siegel

Tue Dec 15 2009 22:37

Listen, the point is we need to take action at this school instead of letting our ideas dissipate as they have in the past. It's gotten to be just plain old RIDICULOUS that student groups sit here and formulate plans only for them to put back into the file cabinet. Can we continue to be this futile? I surely hope not for this Jumbo no longer wants to live in a circus.
As seen in Concordia, the absence of trays can help us make a substantial push towards become a truly sustainable campus. Tufts has recently proclaimed to being more sustainable, and if we as students can help the process we should. I say: "Goodbye trays, your time is done! Take your waste with you and shove it up your bum!"

Finally, that picture is embarrassing. If that is Jeff Stone, which I think it is, he should be ashamed of himself. He's using not only a tray! but also an empty plate, probably just because he likes the color scheme, and TWO bowls... all to hold one serving of salad. If he didn't have such a good laugh I would chastise him.

Jim Siegel

Tue Dec 15 2009 22:37

Listen, the point is we need to take action at this school instead of letting our ideas dissipate as they have in the past. It's gotten to be just plain old RIDICULOUS that student groups sit here and formulate plans only for them to put back into the file cabinet. Can we continue to be this futile? I surely hope not for this Jumbo no longer wants to live in a circus.
As seen in Concordia, the absence of trays can help us make a substantial push towards become a truly sustainable campus. Tufts has recently proclaimed to being more sustainable, and if we as students can help the process we should. I say: "Goodbye trays, your time is done! Take your waste with you and shove it up your bum!"

Finally, that picture is embarrassing. If that is Jeff Stone, which I think it is, he should be ashamed of himself. He's using not only a tray! but also an empty plate, probably just because he likes the color scheme, and TWO bowls... all to hold one serving of salad. If he didn't have such a good laugh I would chastise him.

Your name

Tue Dec 15 2009 22:36

Listen, the point is we need to take action at this school instead of letting our ideas dissipate as they have in the past. It's gotten to be just plain old RIDICULOUS that student groups sit here and formulate plans only for them to put back into the file cabinet. Can we continue to be this futile? I surely hope not for this Jumbo no longer wants to live in a circus.
As seen in Concordia, the absence of trays can help us make a substantial push towards become a truly sustainable campus. Tufts has recently proclaimed to being more sustainable, and if we as students can help the process we should. I say: "Goodbye trays, your time is done! Take your waste with you and shove it up your bum!"

Finally, that picture is embarrassing. If that is Jeff Stone, which I think it is, he should be ashamed of himself. He's using not only a tray! but also an empty plate, probably just because he likes the color scheme, and TWO bowls... all to hold one serving of salad. If he didn't have such a good laugh I would chastise him.

Let's Do It

Tue Dec 15 2009 05:40

Tufts Dining composted over 220 tons of food waste last year, in from Carmichael, Dewick, Hodgdon and the Campus Center. Going Trayless should definitely help cut down on food waste, and energy costs involved in not only washing trays, but also preparing food that ultimately goes into the waste stream. You can start today and just pass up a tray!

Your name

Wed Dec 2 2009 20:45

Now you suddenly care about the well being of dining service employees? After putting cheese in the toasters and stealing the square container filled with Nutella? People spill stuff all the time, and it has nothing to do with trays. In fact, it is much easier to hold onto one plate and one cup (or even 2 stacked) than balancing them on a tray.
But all that jibber jabber is not important. What is important is that Tufts Dining Services is committed to making the dining halls more sustainable, but they know the power is with the students. Let us declare our environmental vision and stand with TDS. Big things like getting Americans to drive smaller cars is too hard and certainly too big for a Tufts initiative. But even the big things happen one person at a time. You can say that this is a silly initiative that is too small to make a difference, but the truth is that it makes a huge difference everyday because we are 5000 strong. You can say "buying recycled paper products won't make a difference", but when everyone says that what do we have?
No one needs a tray. These are the conveniences which we take for granted that we never should have had. These are resources that we are taking from future generations and other organisms.
Let us try to reverse this mess we're in, even if it is one CFL or one tray, or one Environotebook at a time....even if we are a little inconvenienced along the way.

Your name

Tue Dec 1 2009 18:55

Are the dining halls even equipped to deal with the extra movement that will result from taking away the trays? Think about how busy they get around the lunch/dinner rushes. Now imagine them twice as busy because students are going back into the food lines to get another plate they couldn't carry without a tray. This will essentially double the number of walkthroughs in the dining hall if you consider most students get at least 2 drinks and a plate of food which won't fit in 2 hands.

Mindless

Tue Dec 1 2009 01:51

Listen, people. You're all missing it:

The importance of this campaign is in changing the default option for those students in the "middle." Going trayless isn't just for the gratification of environmental hippies. Nor is it here to shove trayless down the throats of those that believe they cannot live without a tray. It's here for the 95% of people that don't give a f*ck and didn't even read this article.

By removing trays from the dining halls we are just switching a default behavior. Just think in two years, trayless will be the standard—freshmen and sophomores will never know Tufts used trays: there will be no human suffering and we will save some water, electricity and food in the process. And if you really can't live without a bloody tray, feel free bring your own.

Your name

Mon Nov 30 2009 23:56

side note- someone asked why tufts didn't compost: we do! both dinning halls compost food waste & other dinning locations compost food preparation scraps. There is even a bin outside of TIE in on the backside of Miller where you can take your personal food scraps!

That being said, tufts does do a lot for the environment, but we can always do more!

Think global, act local!

Christina

Mon Nov 30 2009 23:28

It always amazes me how Tufts students, who I know to be perfectly reasonable and considerate people, get so crazy in these online comments. It's like the anonymity goes to our heads.

Anyway, I personally support the idea of going trayless. Yes, it may be a bit of an inconvenience. Maybe we will have to make a separate trip all the way across Dewick to get our main dish after eating our soup or salad, because we won't be able to carry all of our meal at once. But I'm OK with that. Then my pasta won't get cold while I'm eating my salad, and I'll even get a few extra steps of exercise. It's really a small price to pay for the amount of water and energy that will be saved by not having to wash all of those trays every day. Of course there are always other things than can and should be done to be environmentally friendly, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't make changes where we can.

Trayless and Plateless

Mon Nov 30 2009 23:05

Not only do I not use a tray, I don't even use a plate! I just spoon food into my hands and slam it down on the table.

Your name

Mon Nov 30 2009 22:57

I understand why people like trays. Honestly, I think they're pretty handy myself. But in the long run going trayless is such a %^$#* easy way to help the enviornment. For me, it's worth the extra trip to know I'm helping preserve clean water and reduce food waste. Even if I'm annoyed at the time, I don't remember that annoyance five minutes later, whereas I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive my generation if my children don't have clean water.

GO TRAYLESS

asdf

Mon Nov 30 2009 22:55

Going trayless makes a lot of sense. I think arguing that it is an inconvenience to not have a tray is kind of a stupid argument because the inconvenience it causes is literally an extra 30 seconds of walking back and grabbing a drink afterwards. Also, if you're smart enough about how you hold everything, you can easily carry a plate of food and two drinks in one trip.

It's also stupid to hide behind the fact that it may make just a minimal impact. In part, yes, its about cutting down wasted energy and water and for Tufts to do their part in cutting down these costs. But in another sense, this movement about fostering an attitude of change and actually becoming actors of environmental awareness and change instead of just preaching about how someday we'll try to make other people switch their cars or change policy. Yes, large scale changes are important, but a necessary component of these large scale changes in attitudes and decisions made by Americans as a whole comes from individual actors and small groups performing small changes. If you aren't even willing to make such a minute change then how can you advocate for other people to make bigger ones?

Sarabeth

Mon Nov 30 2009 22:47

Going Trayless is an awesome Idea. A very considerable amount of climate change is created by people's every day actions. We throw out more trash, we use more water, we eat more food, we don't recycle and reuse as much, and we generally waste more. If we can change the mentality behind this being ok, then we will be taking a big step closer to living in a world where we can sustain our own existence and not put future generations in danger. This is a small, but important step. Every single step is important.
Please go trayless tufts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your name

Mon Nov 30 2009 22:36

@Your Name 22:14: Tufts composts, actually.

Skeptic of Dissenters

Mon Nov 30 2009 22:24

I think we should have a cold turkey cut off. I don't see logical arguments against going trayless here. People against the initiative sound, honestly, just like they are complaining. Environmentalism needs to start somewhere, and I think that this tray decision should be a no-brainer because it's small scale. People who are complaining about scale- well why don't you all go and make all americans drive smaller cars? Maybe then the anti-trayless argument will have some weight.

Foodie

Mon Nov 30 2009 22:19

I would not complain about the money we pay for food and our access to a tray. If I'm spending $10 for a meal, I sure hope not a chunk of that is going to buying/cleaning/maintaining trays! I'd much rather eliminate trays and see food quality go up!

Your name

Mon Nov 30 2009 22:14

Honestly, I don't think it's a "freedom" we have to use whatever resources we may have access to mindlessly (responding to thissucks). It's not a freedom at all. We may feel entitled to it, but honestly it's a privilege. I went to a high school where we had the exact same trayless initiative. Yes, our school did end up "going trayless." What we did instead was instead of having both plates and trays (which were recycled or sold), the school invested in wider plastic plates that was as a plate but you could also put your soup / cup on it. It worked really well, and helped to eliminate waste. However, speaking of food waste, we did compost (WHY DOESN'T TUFTS COMPOST?), so we were mostly saving water and other cleaning energies by eliminating trays. Just an idea for those who don't like the idea of the inconvenience.

Your name

Mon Nov 30 2009 21:46

I cannot juggle a cup of tea, a cup of water, and a bowl of cereal in my hands (much less do so and hold anything else). That is not overeating and I see no reason to have to inconvenience myself for the money paid to not have access to a tray. You know how you help the environment rather than push nonsense initiatives? Get Americans to drive smaller cars or to use public transportion (or get the government to fund public transportation), or invent more effective water saving technologies. Or create a lecture series on energy policy or go out into the community and make it more aware or push for energy saving buildings or installations on campus.

This is the best initiative this course could come up with? To inconvenience the student body and make a minimal impact? I am utterly ashamed.

Ruth

Mon Nov 30 2009 21:32

I think this is a really positive initiative. The idea of trayless dining is not meant to alienate classmates or simply make a point. This idea is about furthering a classroom discussion to a point where it can make a constructive change on campus. If you want to talk hypothetically (cancelling the Joey, etc.) than do like this class did and actually research it instead of using it to argue an "extreme" measure. Also, I don't believe that eliminating trays will be more work for employees. In fact, less trays means workers have less items to collect, stack, and wash. Again, it's important to reiterate the fact that this project involves looking into multiple tray options. This includes setting out fewer trays or relocating the trays instead of eliminating them entirely.