Smith EVS 300 - Cost Effectiveness and Sustainability of Individual v Bulk Products

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Cost-Effectiveness and Sustainability of Individual v. Bulk Products Provided in Smith College Dining Halls (Tim Noble and Sue Webster: “Dirty White Trash”) Eliza Parsons Smith College 5.9.2008 EVS: 300 Professors Greg White and Paulette PeckolAbstract: Smith College Dining Services is dedicated to sustainability and green practices, yet provides students with numerous individually packaged products such as creamers, butter and sugar. These generate a great deal of waste, which adds to environmental degradation. Through cost-benefit analyses of purchasing individually packaged products versus bulk products with dispensers it is clear that bulk purchasing is a fiscally responsible choice. Consideration of other factors, such as sanitary concerns, recycling options and dining staff work load, the choice between the two becomes more convoluted. Environmentally and fiscally, bulk products are the most effective choice, but each option needs to be investigated further before implementation is to occur. Introduction: It is well known among environmentalists that Americans are producing waste at exorbitant rates. It is estimated that each U.S. citizen creates approximately 4.39 pounds of solid waste each and every day.1 Almost 1/3 of this generated trash is packaging.2 Packaging is an essential part of many everyday products and much of the packaging is necessary for safety and sanitary reasons. The use of paper bags, for example, is useful when transporting sugar from farm to store to home. There would certainly be a greater loss of sugar without this use of packaging. However, using this packaging at the individual level, such as in dining halls, restaurants and gas stations, creates much more waste per pound of product. The waste produced from this packaging is putting a strain on the resources and landfill capabilities of our world. US landfills are closing at an average rate of 1 per day, as they fill to capacity. 3 This is evident at the local level here in Northampton, Massachusetts as the landfill is looking to expand beyond its current boundaries.4 This is a point of contention as the proposed expansion site is above an aquifer used for much of the areas drinking water. 1 http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html 2 http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html 3 http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html 4 http://www.northamptonma.gov/dpw/Landfill/ and http://www.savingparadise.info/While many people are concerned about this proposed expansion and are fighting to halt its occurrence, it is important to remember the root cause. The need for the landfill comes directly from the increase in consumer consumption and waste production. This trash inevitably needs a resting place, a problem in and of itself. This issue is generally hidden by our well-oiled trash collection agencies which work hard to pick up trash from our homes and businesses. This year Naples, Italy witnessed how quickly trash can pile up when it has no resting place. When the city’s landfill reached capacity a number of issues pushed all new waste into the streets. For months the streets were filled with trash as the government struggled to find a compromise.5 In order to reduce the amount of trash produced, it is essential to think on an individual level. By reducing one’s personal waste production there is the possibility of slowing the heavy waste stream into our landfills. Smith College produces the most per capita trash when compared with Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire and Amherst Colleges.6 A 2006-2007 study showed that Smith students produced 709.4 pounds of waste each year, compared with 444.1 pounds for Hampshire students, 488.8 pounds for Mt. Holyoke students and 625.1 pounds per Amherst student.7 It is clear that Smith can improve its sustainability efforts and can begin with waste reduction. This is a difficult proposition, yet one that is entirely possible. Through the perspective of waste reduction it becomes clear what individual steps can be taken. The Smith College Dining Services has taken this step and strives to be as sustainable as possible. Dining Services manager, Kathy Zieja, regularly attends meetings with the managers from each of the area 5-colleges to discuss any leads they may have on 5 http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/07/naples.rubbish.background/ 6 http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/es/8436.shtml 7 http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/es/8436.shtmlnew, green products.8 Each college faces unique challenges and Smith is no exception. With 15 dining halls on campus, each of varying size, there is no single change that will work best for all locations. This makes it difficult for food purchasing and delivery, as each dining hall needs differing amounts and types of products. The school has done much to overcome these difficulties and works hard to reduce waste, as well as to support sustainability and the local economy. With local food purchases the college reduces transportation emissions, supports the local economy and ensures fresh produce. New biodegradable flatware and to-go containers are in use in all dining halls in an attempt to reduce plastic production and disposal. A full scale compost system is the dream of Zieja, but is not yet possible due to the amount of food waste Smith College produces. There are no farms in this area that could handle the large capacity of food and it is not sustainable, or feasible, to truck our waste to a remote location. Currently there is a trial compost system in place in two of the larger dining halls, Chase-Duckett and Cutter-Ziskind. The two Co-op houses, Tenney and Hopkins, also participate in the composting by carrying their waste to Cutter-Ziskind. The dining halls also utilize bulk products as much as possible. Larger locations have condiment dispensers (new in 2006-2007) while the smaller locations use a combination of bowls and hand held dispensers. The condiments in the large dispensers include ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard. Other, less commonly used, condiments such as tartar sauce, parmesan cheese and relish are generally presented in bowls. More recently, bulk cereal dispensers have been put into place. This provides incredible monetary and environmental savings. Prior to the bulk dispensers, every cereal was purchased in the 13-24 ounce, household size boxes. There were a variety of cereals 8 Personal Communication, Kathy Zieja, February 19th, 2008in each dining location and they cycled


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