Bettering Benson Promoting Sustainable Behaviors in our Dining Environment

1. Bettering Benson Promoting Sustainable Behaviors in our Dining Environment By: Kathryn Jacobs, Ellen Yun, Claire Harvey, William Whitesides, and Genevieve Magnan Advisor: Sherry Booth Research Question: How can we promote more sustainable behaviors in our dining environment? Results: Eighty percent of survey takers said they would take advantage of half-sized portions, verifying that a large majority feel that current portion sizes are too big. Most of them, about 77%, end up throwing the rest away. If they don’t throw it away, and actually do take it home, the container observations tell us that 84% of students use disposable dishes! As of now, the system caters to wasteful habits. To help hone in on the areas of Benson that contribute to the most compost and garbage collection, we asked students to rate the Bon Apetite divisions by leftover amount. Sauté was the most dominant origin of leftovers. This was followed by a tie for second between The Bistro and La Parilla, and another tie for third between the California Delia and Farmer’s Pantry. The students we surveyed said that they would opt for a reusable container if given the choice. However, this is a little contradictory to what we observed, since eco-trays are a current option and 84% of surveyors used disposable containers. This could be attributed to a lack of awareness, although a majority of students (68%) stated they were already knowledgeable about eco-trays. When presented with a brief description of the process, only 53% said they would take advantage of the reusable containers offered. The majority of students did not care to learn more. For those who have already “purchased” an eco-tray, more people were unsatisfied with the process than not. • Introduction: • Santa Clara University's sustainability policy highlights environmental stewardship, education, and service. • SCU spends 30 percent of our food budget on local products, and purchases exclusively cage-free eggs, sustainably harvested seafood, as well as hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, milk, chicken, and turkey breast. • We feel that our dining and recycling services could be modified to create less waste. • The purpose of our study was to discover possible ways of improving the Benson dining system in order to help students make sustainable choices. • We focused on the students waste, specifically concerning excess food, disposable containers, and bensonware theft. When asked to rate the stations in Benson by the amount of leftovers they produce, this is what we received. From left to right on the graph: California Deli, Sauté, Farmer’s Pantry, The Bistro, and La Parilla. • Methods: • Observing waste in Benson: • Each person in our group was assigned specific times to observe the waste disposal in Benson Memorial Center. We made a universal observation sheet to record the amount of waste and/or leftovers students had after eating. • Surveying and tabling in Benson: • A survey was constructed and dispersed throughout the Santa Clara community. The subject of the survey covered our two topics; willingness to purchase half portion sizes if available and willingness to use reusable to go containers (Eco-Trays). Students had two opportunities to take the survey; by either stopping at our reserved table in Benson Memorial Center or by responding to the mass email sent out to students. • Meeting with Bob Lubecky, a coordinator from Bon Appetit: • Talking with Benson Memorial Center’s dining services provider Bon Appetit became a very beneficial part of our project. Talking with Bob Lubecky, an important member to Santa Clara University’s branch, gave us the opportunity to speak to someone who had the power to implement change. This set of data was vastly in favor of disposable containers. In total, 84% of the containers used to take away food were disposable (paper clamshell, plastic salad container, etc…). This presents an overwhelming need or opportunity for reusable containers. However, as there is already an eco-tray system in place, it would also highlight the student body’s reluctance to take advantage of the reusable containers already available. Our results also revealed that about 15% of the dishes taken out of Benson were permanent dishware from the dining venue. This is of special concern to Bon Apetit, who lost $4,000 worth of china in the first week of Spring Quarter. • Discussion and Recommendations: • Clearly, there is room for improvement. Our current system wastes quite a lot, and there are things we can do to address it. These are some of the things we suggest testing out to help cut down on the waste generated from large portions and disposable containers: • Offer half-size portions for every station of Benson • Redesign the Eco-tray system so that it is easier to use • Drop off centers near dormitories? • Scan each eco-tray in or out when a student returns or uses one • Mark tray-users via access card to eliminate awkward keychain transaction • Create an eco-tray option within the register computer, so students can fill up the tray when making salads, etc… • Create a return center/area for students to bring back used eco-trays to avoid holding up the food line On the whole, each meal had more students returning empty plates than plates with food waste. However, the total amount of plates with leftovers still left us with a significant amount of food waste. Forty-four percent of the plates returned contributed to the trash/compost build-up. That means almost half of the meals purchased are not being entirely consumed. Either the meals are too large, or students need a way to save their excess.