At Virginia Tech, there is a call for more and more environmentally friendly practices and for more people to "go green." We are constantly challenged to transform all our economic investments from a negative standpoint of commoditization toward a positive one, toward the environmentally benign.
The Environmental Coalition of Virginia Tech is a core organization that unites, educates and motivates students, faculty and community members to advocate for a sustainable future. Aside from other goals, it seeks to reduce wasted food in dining halls and completely transition from Styrofoam to alternative biodegradable containers. The prescription is straightforward but challenging: make our dining halls more sustainable, both at the hands of the supplier and the consumer.
The Dining Services Group under the Environmental Coalition is showing maximum effort in order to keep our dining facilities more environmentally friendly. "As for what we, the Environmental Coalition, would like to see, no trays, no Styrofoam, and all food to be composted," said Kyle Knight, the Dining Services Facilitator within the Environmental Coalition.
Knight coordinates the Dining Services group and networks with other programs at Virginia Tech in order to make dining halls more environmentally friendly.
Polystyrene, better known as Styrofoam, can be seen all around campus, piled up outside West End or crumbled up in our trashcans. The fact of the matter is Styrofoam is taking a hard toll on our environment, energy and health. It is not easily recyclable because of its light weight and low scrap value.
Styrofoam undergoes manufacturing processes that release hydrocarbons at the ground level. These harmful air pollutants lead to reduced lung function, chest pains, coughing and wheezing. In the United States, the EPA estimates more than 73 billion Styrofoam and plastic cups are thrown away each year, piling up in landfills and polluting the atmosphere.
"Our main focus was to eliminate, reduce or create an alternative to Styrofoam boxes at the dining halls." Knight said. "We would have weekly meetings during Environmental Coalition meetings to share what we had found, ideas, current projects and respond to write to others we were working with at Virginia Tech."
The Environmental Coalition took several steps within this past year pertaining to that focus.
"We did two main projects during the year," Knight said. "First, we created an online survey and posted table cards at Owens, West End and Shultz that direct students to access more information on Styrofoam."
The table cards make available information of Styrofoam use. Toxic chemicals leach out carcinogens from Styrofoam containers into food, especially when subjected to microwaves.
These chemicals threaten human health and reproductive systems.
They also address the benefits of substitutes: "using one ton of recycled paper containers instead of polystyrene saves 390 gallons of oil, enough to drive a midsize SUV almost 8,000 miles."
A survey, which can be taken at www.theecvt.com/survey, addresses the possibility of charging students between 5 cents and 15 cents extra for biodegradable containers in place of Styrofoam. The survey also asks whether students would like to do away completely with Styrofoam and compost leftover meals instead of throwing them out.
Based on the survey, 59 percent were willing to pay up to 15 cents for biodegradable containers, and 78 percent were willing to pay 5 cents.
"For the sake of accuracy, only 116 people have been surveyed, but the survey is open," Knight said.
Andy Sariahani, an intern from Arkansas, worked with the Environmental Coalition to find out how much waste was used at the dining halls and to determine possible options. The amount of waste that results from student food consumption is staggering. The Environmental Coalition is pushing for the absence of trays, which in turn would prevent such an overwhelming quantity of food wasted.
The Environmental Coalition states that Owens Food Court and Hokie Grill used more than a million Styrofoam containers just last year, costing Tech almost $50,000. But the road doesn't end there. D2, over a two-day period, threw away more than a ton of edible food. From a recent food waste survey conducted at D2, an estimated 200,000 lbs of food is wasted every year -- about the size of 10 school buses.
Although an immediate shift is unlikely, the Environmental Coalition has long been on a search for alternative biodegradable containers. Among the several options were paper to-go boxes and also corn-based Styrofoam. Corn-based Styrofoam provides a viable, non-toxic, disposable alternative to regular Styrofoam. It is made from cornstarch and polymers, so containers are 100 percent biodegradable.
"As I understand it, D2 will switch to the corn-based Styrofoam this coming year," Knight said. "Though I am not sure about the other dining halls."
Even the dining services faculties are eager to begin.
"The D2 manager was pretty interested in making the switch, especially the decision to go trayless, which really cuts down on food waste," Knight said.
There has been an increased trend of students believing they are getting more food for their money when they choose to get food to go. Counteracting these assumptions is no easy task. These inclinations are not unfamiliar to the Environmental Coalition.
"I have heard that as well; I would suggest posting a sign at the beginning of the line stating that to-go boxes do not get more food," Knight said.
Increased student awareness also plays a prominent role in making the transition successful. "I think the progress that has been made (this) semester is good, but more attention must be brought on the issue," Knight said.
But awareness and addressing alternatives to Styrofoam are not enough; the Environmental Coalition is calling for an active response from the university and consumers.
"I would also like to stress that I think we can do a lot more, especially when it comes to composting," Knight said. "It's hard to get permits for a large composting facility in the State of Virginia, but Virginia Tech is an agriculture school, and I think we should really look into food composting as a research project."
This is not to say that the Dining Hall Staff haven't contributed toward sustainable dining practices.
It seems that the effort to go green is strongly reliant on communication and partnership. Brian Grove, Associate Director of Virginia Tech's Dining programs, advocated the importance of organization partnerships.
"Dining Services has partnered with Environmental Coalition, Residence Hall Federation, SGA, and the Student Advisory Committee to help with our sustainability initiatives," said Grove. "Dining Services just attended a sustainability presentation last week on the many different types of to-go-ware and other products."