Earlier this week, when I asked the server at the Collis Cafe for a small dinner entree in my own plastic container, I received an angry look from the manager standing next to her. He told the server that she would have to measure the amount in one of their paper cups and then transfer it to my container. I protested and said that the whole point of my bringing a reusable container was to avoid throwing one of the disposables away. All the server had to do was estimate the size of a small and put it directly into my container.
The server appeared not to know what to do. Other students in the line expressed similar protest, but the manager refused to compromise. After a few moments of indecision, a woman behind me in line offered to take her dinner in the cup used for measurement. The problem was solved and I received the precise amount of a small serving.
The whole incident was absurd. If the manager truly believes that the servers are incapable of estimating the size of a small portion, he should provide a reusable measuring cup for them to use throughout the day. Instead of finagling over the precise amount, he should realize that I am saving the Cafe money each time a buy a meal. When I reuse, they spend less on disposable paper cups and plasticware, which end up costing Dartmouth Dining Services (DDS) $83,000 a year. Indeed, to be completely fair, the Cafe should offer credits -- say a five cent discount -- to students who use their own containers.
But the real problem is that Collis continues to produce an enormous amount of waste. When it opened last year, I was shocked to learn that the cafe would not provide any reusables. I blitzed DDS director Pete Napolitano to arrange a meeting to discuss my concern. I figured that if I and enough other students complained, we could at least get Collis to start reusing silverware.
In our meeting, Mr. Napolitano told me that although a dish washing facility had been considered in the early planning of the new Collis, it was abandoned in later stages because of limited space. To accommodate features like a video game room and TV lounge, the planners decided that dish washing was no longer a priority.
When I asked whether silverware and plates from Collis could be brought over to Thayer for cleaning. Mr. Napolitano responded with another concern: that students would not return the reusables. He explained that DDS already incurs a huge expense from continually replacing lost silverware. This loss would be an even greater problem at Collis because of its proximity to the green where many students take their meals in the spring. Obviously, Mr. Napolitano finds it cheaper to spend $83,000 a year on disposables than to replace lost silverware and other reusables. The fact that Collis now disposes over 10,000 cups a week is the result of the poor planning as well as our own habits.
Why is this such a big deal? There are two reasons. First, we are wasting resources and needlessly filling up the Lebanon landfill with stuff that we use for only a few minutes. Second, and more importantly, we are becoming conditioned to our own wastefulness. In our daily routine of eating meals, we become so accustomed to disposing that we stop thinking about it as waste. It is scary to think that as we prepare for life after college, we learn habits which are so completely unsustainable. Even scarier still is the fact that Dartmouth seems to encourage these habits.
As students, we need to demand that the Collis Cafe offer reusables. Until this happens, I hope that more students start bringing their own containers and silverware. Use your enviro-mugs too. And on those occasions when you do throw something away, at least remind yourself that you are producing waste.
