Hickey Dining Hall Goes Trayless

By Tom Missel
Director of Media Relations/Marketing

Hickey Dining Hall at St. Bonaventure University has begun serving up a helping of energy savings and waste reduction with each meal.

St. Bonaventure has joined the growing list of campuses nationwide that have eliminated trays in their dining facilities in a move embraced by conservation-conscious students.

Dining hall trays contribute significantly to the waste stream by encouraging diners to take more food than they can eat and adding to the stack of dirty dishes to be washed after each meal.

Aramark Dining Services, a dining provider at 500 campuses including St. Bonaventure, measured food wasted from more than 186,000 meals served at 25 institutions and found that removing dining hall trays reduced the waste generated per person by 25 to 30 percent.

Aramark had the numbers to support going trayless and campus communities had the resolve. In a survey of more than 92,000 students, faculty and staff at 300 institutions across the country, Aramark found that nearly 80 percent were ready to give up their trays.

St. Bonaventure’s Student Food Services Committee endorsed the move as did the university’s Sustainability Commission, a campuswide group formed to explore ways in which the university can create and maintain a more sustainable environment.

“I think this initiative is great,” said Philip Winger, associate vice president for facilities at St. Bonaventure and chairman of the Sustainability Commission. “This is one of the many ways in which a small change in lifestyle can have an effect on the world that we leave to future generations, not only because of the direct effect on energy and water consumption, but because of the small daily reminder that each of us can make a difference.”

St. Bonaventure entered the trayless era Jan. 19 with the return of students from winter break.

Jackie Martin of Rochester and Jennifer Goris of New York City, both St. Bonaventure freshmen, sat together in the dining hall this week, no trays under their lunch plates. They welcome the switch to trayless dining.

“I didn’t use a tray that much anyway so it really doesn’t affect me, but I haven’t heard many complaints,” said Goris.

“I think it’s effective because people don’t carry as much without a tray and they don’t waste as much,” said Martin. “I also agree that it cuts down on the amount of water and energy wasted.”

Amy Vleminckx, food service director at St. Bonaventure, said the dining hall still offers a small stack of trays as a convenience, but fewer than a dozen trays are now being used in a typical day. “I think students like the idea of participating in a ‘green’ initiative that has personal and community impact,” she said.

Aramark estimates that 50 to 60 percent of its 500 campus dining operations will go trayless this academic year.

Pictured, Jackie Martin (left) of Rochester and Jennifer Goris of New York City, both St. Bonaventure freshmen, eat a trayless meal at St. Bonaventure’s Hickey Dining Hall.
(Photo courtesy of St. Bonaventure University)