This year, the University of Maine dining service has discontinued the use of trays at York Commons, joining the ranks of colleges across the country attempting to reduce energy use and water consumption.

Kathy Kittridge, UMaine's director of dining operations, cited more than 24 schools that have switched to trayless dining.

In New England, campuses include the University of Connecticut, Vermont's Middlebury College and Maine's Unity College, according to UConn dining services.

Kittridge said two of the main goals of the UMaine initiative are saving resources and providing a healthier student atmosphere.

From a nutritional standpoint, students tend to take only food they know they will eat if they have to carry it to their table by hand.

"It's a hassle, but it's making you think, too, about what you want," Yasmin Boyorak said. Boyorak, York's customer service supervisor, said she has seen the trends with trays and now without.

She said students used to load up trays on the north end of the commons, they then went to the south end and added more on to their trays. Plates full of uneaten food, with bites taken out, would come into the dish room at each meal.

Now, the dishes that come in are mostly empty. Many students take what they can eat and finding that once they do, they are not hungry enough to go up for seconds.

"I was floored at the amount of food we are not throwing away this year," Boyorak said.

Last year, dining workers took out two to three bags of food waste per meal. This year, it has been reduced to one bag.

Because less students are loading trays with uneaten food, purchasing costs have dropped. Kittridge said dining did not do a before and after budget comparison to find out the savings, but she was sure "we have cut way, way back."

She said UMaine is saving on labor costs in the dish room. Where four people were needed before, dish room staff has been cut in half, leaving more workers to clean tables and help customers.

Without as many plates going through the dishwasher, York uses less water. Boyorak said before the switch to trayless, the dishwasher ran constantly, wasting hot water, dish soap, sanitizer and a rinse agent.

Susan Little, York's dining service manager, said students were surprised by the idea of no trays at first, leaving dishes and food on the tables, but "once they understood the reasons, they were fine with it."

Lauriane Laliberte, a second-year nutrition student who lives in Aroostook, said, "I don't really mind. I think it's good that they are trying to conserve energy."

Second-year pre-pharmacy student Charlie Fichera said, "I think it's a good idea. People waste less food."

Little said she brought a former dish room employee in to see the difference, and he was stunned.

"We noticed it right away in the dish room," Little said. She added that people throw away less napkins, whereas before they would pile them up on trays, unused.

While the foray into trayless dining has been a success at York so far, Kittridge says dining probably will not implement it at any of the other commons.

They considered it for Hilltop, she said, but there dining only offers all-you-can-eat during certain meal periods. She said it does not make much sense to have it during a la carte periods when students only pay for a certain amount.

One additional environmental plan dining has is applying for a grant to get a pulper installed at York, similar to the one at Hilltop to extract recycled water from food waste.

UMaine invites students wishing to voice concerns and suggestions about dining to come to a student committee meeting with a tentative date of Nov. 12.

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