How much trash do you think you produce in a day?

If you eat on campus — a cup of coffee before class starts, a sandwich during your break — that amount will grow exponentially. Unless you bring your own, it’s not an option to get your food on a plate or your coffee in a cup that’s recyclable, to say nothing of reusable.

Programs like the current coffee mug handout help to alleviate the strain UI puts on area landfills (the four coffee shops on campus alone dispose of 184,000 paper cups every year), but Campus Dining can certainly do more.
So many people order their coffee, then stick around and drink it at the shop. While it’s understood that dishwashers that can handle the expected capacity can be expensive and space consuming, reusable ceramic mugs are an option worth looking into.

The type of paper cups used at campus dining locations aren’t recyclable — another alternative worth a little research. Recyclable paper cups would be great, but even better, some brands of cups (both paper and plastic) are even 100 percent compostable.

The Sustainability Center on campus also sells travel mugs, which get the user a 10-cent discount; the mugs being handed out for free get the user a 25-cent discount. It’s a decent deal, unless your taste runs toward the more expensive concoctions.

It’s not that hard to grab a travel mug before you run out the door. Granted, it can be a bit of a hassle to remember to wash it when you’re done with it. But most kinds of mugs are dishwasher safe, and if you get on it right away, a quick rinse is almost always good enough.

Though travel mugs are an option when you’re grabbing a cup of joe, you’re out of luck if you’re eating on campus. Short of carrying around a plate, bowl and full set of silverware everywhere you go — and no one is suggesting that — you’re stuck with Styrofoam and plastic.

The same as the campus coffee shops, options exist that would lower the amount of trash UI tosses out every day, solely from students, faculty and staff eating on campus. Reusable plates, recyclable bowls and biodegradable flatware could go a long way.

Until Campus Dining steps up and changes the way they do business, and offers alternatives that consider the daily impact each and every person has on the environment, it’s up to the individual to do his or her part. Getting a travel mug is an easy way to make a difference, even if it’s a small one.
— CW

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