Trays of Our Lives: The trayless dining craze in college cafeterias

Trayless dining: a concept that you may already be very familiar with if you are A.) currently enrolled in a university that has adopted the policy or if B.) like me, you spend hours every day reading university newspaper articles about campus food service (this is not something I would admit to if I were you, it's not exactly a 'cool' hobby).

For the benefit of those of you who do neither of the above, trayless dining is the newest fad in university dining. The concept is pretty self-explanatory: cafeteria meals are served without trays. The result is less waste from food, electricity, water and cleaning supplies; and a more sustainable dining experience. The reduction of waste, of course, also results in reduced cost for the dining service provider.

Schools all over the country, with contracted and non-contracted food service operations, are adopting the program. Some are going trayless one or two days a week, and others have gone completely trayless. It's happening and it's happening quickly. But by going trayless are food service companies and universities merely following the Walmart model that seems to tie sustainability with saving money?

This is an issue that warrants further analysis, and I'll come back to it in future posts. My initial thought is that trayless dining is a step in the right direction (though it's certainly better when it comes it comes from the student body). It's a sustainable initiative that can be won without a long a difficult fight (since it saves money on costs), but it's still important to challenge dining service operations to take further steps towards becoming more sustainable, both in terms of the environment and worker compensation. 

If you have any interesting stories or thoughts regarding trayless dining, send over an email. If not, be sure to stay tuned for our next exploration into trayless dining: Trays of Our Lives II, The Life and Times of TrayShaun Prince.¹ (The submission of 'tray' puns, for the record, is highly encouraged and each and every entry will be carefully reviewed by our highly trained pun committee.)

^1. Title subject to change