RECOMMENDATIONS

Sodexho Bon Appetit MIT Students Conclusion

To All "The Players": MIT Dining Services, Sodexho, Bon Appétit, and EPTF

Some of the problems we noted, such as the absence of recycling bins in most dining venues stem from a simple lack of communication between recycling services, house managers, and dining services. The dining hall managers we spoke to---especially those from Bon Appétit---were willing and in fact eager to implement environmentally friendly changes. One chef asked us frankly, "Could you get me some recycling bins. I'd be more than happy to recycle here if they would just give me the bins." Moreover, when good things were being done---such as composting at Next House---it seemed to be fairly disorganized and therefore, inconsistent (a few blocks down the street at Baker House there is no composting.) With no formal oversight from an outside committee, and little idea sharing---even between sister establishments---it is little wonder that green progress has been so sluggish.

We feel that the Environmental Programs Task Force (EPTF) is in the best position to bridge the aforementioned gaps in communication. Currently, this committee is open to any interested faculty, staff, and students and has representatives from various campus groups including MIT dining services and SAVE (Share a Vital Earth). We recommend that members from each of the MIT food service providers become involved in the activities of EPTF. All parties meeting regularly would present an opportunity for the various groups to engage in productive dialogue. This would not only promote the cause of waste reduction, but would lead to improvement in many other environmentally related aspects of dining.

Food Court Style Dining (Sodexho):

• Provide recycling bins next to all regular trash receptacles
• Hold a contest for students to design a one-stop sorting station for recycling/garbage/compost. The winning design will then be made into a prototype station and tested in the cafeteria to monitor its 1) accessibility and ease of use 2) effectiveness in preventing contamination among waste categories.
• Make bulk serve items (condiments, salad dressings, dessert items) available and more convenient to access than the individually packaged/wrapped items
• Encourage the use of reusable/washable dishware. Expand the range of reusable items to include utensils, plates, bowls, glasses and cups
  1. Until a wider variety of reusables becomes available, offer incentives to individuals who bring their own mugs (or even plates and glasses) Publicize the current reusable mug incentive program and any future incentives for reusables
  2. One way of discouraging disposables might be to place them all in a separate location marked with a sign "Please Use Disposable Dishware For Take-Out Only"
• Actively pursue the possibility of switching to fully biodegradable items (plates, utensils, cups, take-out boxes, etc.)
  1. Communicate with universities that have successfully integrated biodegradable dishware into their dining programs. (See best practices)
  2. Implement a pilot program to assess the feasibility of using these biodegradable materials in dining venues
  3. Recruit other universities to participate in the pilot program in order to drive down the current high prices of "earth-friendly" packaging
• Donate all surplus food that meets OSHA standards to local homeless shelters and foodbanks
• Implement composting of all post-consumer organic waste: kitchen scraps, left-over tray waste, biodegradable packaging (hopefully!) and all non-donatable unserved food
  1. Communicate with universities that have successfully implemented food waste composting programs. (See best practices)
  2. Train staff in sorting of kitchen food scraps
  3. Campaign to inform public on proper sorting practices
  4. User-friendly signs near the sorting station indicating exactly what left-over tray waste can be composted
  

Residential Dining (Bon- Appétit):

• Provide recycling bins next to all regular trash receptacles
• Acquire recycling bins in kitchen for disposal of tray recyclables
• Encourage the use of reusable/washable dishware. Expand the range of reusable items to include utensils, plates, bowls, glasses and cups
  1. Until a wider variety of reusables becomes available, offer incentives to individuals who bring their own mugs (or even plates and glasses) Publicize any future incentives for reusables
  2. One way of discouraging disposables might be to place them all in a separate location marked with a sign "Please Use Disposable Dishware For Take-Out Only"
  3. Phase out of individually packaged beverages in favor of fountain-style drinks
• Donate all surplus food that meets OSHA standards to local homeless shelters and foodbanks
• Implement composting of all post-consumer organic waste: kitchen scraps, left-over tray waste, biodegradable packaging (hopefully!) and all non-donatable unserved food
  1. Communicate with universities that have successfully implemented food waste composting programs. (See best practices)
  2. Train staff in proper sorting of pre-consumer kitchen waste and post-consumer tray waste
  3. Place signs in the dining halls informing diners of the post-consumer composting program. These signs should encourage individuals not to throw away any compostable tray waste.
  

MIT:

• Dining Services and EPTF should consider contracting an outside agency to conduct a waste-stream audit at least once per year.
• The EPTF should publicize its existence, make efforts to gather students' opinions, and actively solicit participation from food service providers (head chefs and dining hall managers.)
• MIT has policies dealing with many environmental initiatives, however, not many people are aware of these programs and therefore don't realize when stated goals are not being met. MIT should publicize these policies in order to create a awareness that will drive people to comply with the stated goals.
• Dining Services should implement a waste monitoring program to encourage the individual dining venues to reduce output. It could offer incentives by giving the dining facility a percentage of the money MIT saves in hauling costs.
• MIT should include as part of freshman orientation freebees a reusable mug and a reusable flatware packet (Dartmouth has done this with great success).

Students:

• MIT students currently have the reputation of being apathetic when it comes to the environment.We have been told in person by the managers of dining hallsthat they get a sense that students here don't care about environmentalissues so the managers make little effort to contribute to environmentallysound practices. One way students can go about "greening" our image is to make use of the comment boxes provided at each of the dining venues. A little friendly harassment goes a long way!

In Conclusion:

While this project has focused on the impacts of waste generated by MIT dining, at the heart of the matter, even recycling and composting use energy. Therefore, as a community we need to consider consuming less from the start.