When George Mason University students step into the school’s newest dining hall next month, they won’t find one of the most ubiquitous symbols of institutional food service: the tray.
Following a trend of colleges and universities across the nation, the state-of-the art Southside dining facility will leave its patrons to handle their plates, utensils, glasses and bowls by hand.
GMU officials say the benefits are numerous: Without the empty platform upon which to pile food, students will better gauge how much they can eat, cutting down on waste and weight gain. The students sit down faster with hotter food. And the school saves on energy and water costs by not having to wash pile upon pile of trays.
“The students have always come in, pick up a tray, fill it, go sit down and eat,” said Mark Kraner, assistant vice president of university services, during a tour of the dining hall Friday. “Here we’re asking them to come up, pick up the entrees from the station, go eat, and then make the conscious decision to get back up and get more.”
Its one of the myriad environmentally friendly features GMU has packed into the facility. Southside also includes more efficient dishwashers, ovens and disposal units, as well as more locally grown produce. The building itself, though, is not certified as a “green” building.
Southside is expected to cut electricity consumption by at least 25 percent and water volume by at least 30 percent from the dining facility it will replace, Kraner said.
Tray-less dining has begun to catch on at schools across the country, including Virginia Tech. The Blacksburg university tried the concept out in the spring, and put it in place this school year for all of its dining facilities, which serve nearly 18,000 students a day, said Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski.
An Aramark study of a trayless program at University of Maine at Farmington found that the program cut food waste by 46 pounds per person per year, reduced overall waste by 65,000 pounds, and saved 288,288 gallons of water.
