• This week Mashuda, Straz, McCormick and Cobeen dining rooms are going trayless for Earth Week.
• Removing the trays from residence hall dining rooms could potentially save 3,000 gallons of water a day, while also cutting down on energy and detergent usage.
• Trayless dining can also cut down on the amount of food that gets wasted in cafeterias, according to Sodexo.

This week students across campus have planted trees, picked up garbage and lowered their energy usage in recognition of Earth Week, but they also have been "going green" in the dining halls.

Students who have eaten in the Mashuda Hall, Straz Tower, McCormick Hall or Cobeen Hall dining rooms since Monday have taken part in Sodexo Dining Services' "Trayless Dining" initiative.

According to Monica Heminger, marketing manager of university dining services, the program helps conserve the water, energy and detergent it takes to wash each tray. Studies have shown that it takes 1/3 to 1/2 gallon of water to wash each individual tray, she said.

"With the number of meals we're serving and the number of trays we're washing, it could potentially save 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of water per day," Heminger said.

Heminger also said other universities that have converted to trayless dining have seen a significant reduction in food waste.

Approximately 40 percent of the campuses that use Sodexo are already trayless, she said.

Victoria Giordano, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she thinks the trayless dining initiative is already helping cut down the amount of wasted food in the dining rooms.

"When I ate at McCormick (Tuesday) morning I noticed that I was being more selective about the food I took because I didn't have a tray to hold everything," Giordano said. "I ate just about all the food I took, and that doesn't usually happen when I eat at McCormick."

Vincent Ong, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, said he also noticed the benefits of the program throughout the course of the week.

"When people have trays to use in the cafeterias, I think it makes it too easy to grab more food than you can eat," Ong said. "The trays also make it easier to throw away all the uneaten food, so I can see how trayless dining cuts down on waste."

In Straz Tower, there was about a 25 percent decrease of waste on the first day, Heminger said.

Rick Arcuri, associate dean for administration in the Office of Residence Life, said if the initiative gets positive feedback and results this week, the university would consider going permanently trayless in the fall.

Ben Ruthven, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, said even though going trayless may reduce cafeteria waste, he thinks the initiative is more inconvenient than it is beneficial.

"For me, not being able to use trays in the cafeterias this week has been really annoying." Ruthven said. "It hasn't discouraged me from taking less food, but it has forced me to make three or four trips to my table and back."

"The trayless dining has actually deepened my appreciation for cafeteria trays," he said. "I guess sometimes you don't really know what you've got until it's gone."