Campus dining services has decided the grass is greener on the environmentally friendly side of the fence.
This year there have been a variety of changes at dining locations all over campus in an effort to help protect the environment and support local vendors.
“Aside from it being the right thing to do, we feel as a land grant college it is our responsibility to take the lead in these initiatives,” said Kirsten Marinko, the marketing director for campus dining services.
Many of the changes stem from a shift to use products that decompose without harm to the environment. Many of the new cleaning products break down without leaving poisonous chemicals in landfills, Marinko said.
Another reason campus dining has made changes is because of input from students.
“There is a continuum of change that is driven by student input and new available technologies,” Marinko said.
The changes have led some students to think campus dining is moving in the right direction.
“They are good ideas and changes,” said T.J. Lewis, the sustainability chair for Lincoln House Hall Council.
In the future, Lewis said he would like to see campus dining services offer recycling containers in their facilities. Allowing students to purchase re-usable bags and encouraging them to bring their own water bottles to fill with drinks would also lead to waste reduction, said the freshman in animal sciences.
Dining services has also started an initiative to buy from local vendors.
“Buying local helps to support local residents, businesses, agriculture and our economy as a whole,” Marinko said. “Local products don’t have the added costs of long transportation, thus use less fossil fuel.” Buying food from local vendors also provides our students with fresher options, she said.
Campus dining is currently working to establish an all green facility on campus, Marinko said. “We will be attempting to put in use all products, practices and technologies we can in one building that would reduce waste and impact to the environment,” she said.
Campus dining will be looking to make more positive changes in the future.
“It will be a continuing process for us,” Marinko said.
Holly Davis can be reached at [email protected].
