Some 4,000 guests were expected at the annual Dartmouth Community Cookout on Tuck Mall Tuesday afternoon, but not a drop of garbage. Following Convocation, College President James Wright hosted the giant picnic, where Dartmouth Dining Services worked with Sustainable Dartmouth to make the cookout "waste-free."
The food at the cookout was served on reusable plates and cups, and the napkins were composted along with all leftover food. Only finger food was served in an effort to avoid using disposable silverware.
The event was planned over the summer in large part by Marissa Knodel '09, a member of Sustainable Dartmouth.
According to David Newlove, associate director of DDS, roughly the 4,000 peoplewho attended didn't quite meet the zero-waste goal, but did produce almost 700 fewer pounds of trash compared to last year.
"I think it is great environmentally to save all that trash," he said.
The environmental benefits of the event came at the expense of increased labor and material costs, however. Newlove explained that to serve almost 4,000 people and limit waste, DDS had to purchase more plates and cups, and that paying to wash reusable plates is significantly more expensive than simply disposing of paper or plastic plates.
"It is logistically difficult," he said, explaining that DDS purchased melamine plates for the cookout, which are lighter and easier to transport than porcelain dishes.
Mary Gorman, the College's associate provost and executive officer, noted that despite the extra cost, the event served to highlight an important issue.
"We thought that it would be a very opportune time to send a message about the College wanting to reduce its solid waste," she said. "We want to show the whole community that we can do something like this as a waste-free event."
Gorman pointed out that by providing fruit punch and water instead of soda, using reusable glasses, the organizers were able to avoid the waste associated with aluminum cans.
"We can make a choice as an institution to provide beverages that don't create that much trash," Gorman said.
In addition to limiting the waste produced by the event, diners were encouraged to place their leftover food in compost bins, which were then transported to the Hanover-Dartmouth composting facility in Lebanon. After the compost has degraded, it will be returned to campus as landscaping material and for use on the Dartmouth Organic Farm.
Marc Shapiro '10, an eco-coordinator for Sustainable Dartmouth, called the cookout noteworthy.
"It was a huge, huge deal, because it shows how easy it is to have a waste-free event," he said.
He added that the additional cost of labor and reusable plates should not discourage further waste-free events by DDS.
"It's like a moral cost versus the actual cost," he said. "Dartmouth has so much capital that buying 100 or 200 plates is not a big deal for them."
Kat Eidmann '10 and Jessica Long '08 enjoyed the free food provided at the cookout.
"It's fun, it's nice weather, and relatively good food," Eidman said.
Long expressed her support for the waste-free theme of the event.
"As long as I can get some food, it doesn't bother me," she said. "You save a lot of money going green in a lot of ways."