By Jackie Huang’24
If you were to give an estimation, approximately how takeout boxes are used every single day?
“I know we go through a lot. There is a good example. We ordered at the beginning of the month, about $700 worth of to-go boxes, and we went through them in two weeks. This [pattern] has been constant, that is why we went to the paper plates.”
Does accessibility to take-out boxes change for the different types (paper, plastic, biodegradable, etc)?
“There are cheaper ones, but then they are cheap. You are pretty much paying for what you are getting. The [sustainable] ones are not always good quality. It’s hard to find a balance.”
When and who are boxes most commonly used?
“More students. Because they will come, eat, and then go get more. But of course the amount they bring back to the dish room, and then they get more. More dinner, a little bit of lunch. I don’t really see much of it during breakfast.”
What is the intended purpose of Takeout boxes?
“We did the takeout more for anyone that, because of COVID they wanted to eat somewhere else. It wasn’t more for the fact of, you eat, you get food to go back with. But we can’t stop everyone”
Is COVID safety still a primary concern with Takeout boxes?
“It is because it is hard to, not only because of the boxes, determine how much food to make.
Follow-up: Could you elaborate more on that?
“Because we make so much, and we have no problems with people coming back for seconds, but seeing the pick buckets (where students used to scrape their food), always get filled pretty fast through each meal. But then on top of that people are taking their food-to-go, so when we run out of food we feel so bad - but then we see it in the pick bucket.”
So where does all the food waste go?
“We have this farmer that comes and picks up all the buckets, and he will cook it and feed it to the pigs. It’s not really a waste, but it is. And it’s hard to condense the food waste all to one when people are taking them to the dorms”
Do you foresee takeout boxes continuing in the future, even after the pandemic?
“We have talked about only doing takeout for maybe like a half hour before we close. So if we close at 7, you can only takeout from 6:30-7. Because this will cut down on a lot of to-go boxes and will also keep people from people grabbing boxes and eating in here
Are personal takeout boxes allowed?
“Yes, totally! Personal to-go boxes are encouraged, as long as they are fully cleaned”
One last message for the student body?
“If you do take a to-go, be considerate and don’t sit in the dining hall with it. Because our trash can inside isn’t meant for it. But also think that it is only meant to have for one meal, it’s not to fill with all one dish. We also feel bad when we don’t have to-gos for the ones who really need the to-go’s.
