Two weeks ago, Shannon Dycus sent out an email that said the EMU dining hall was running low on the green on-the-go boxes. Despite Dycus’ announcement, Bruce Emmerson, the head of the dining hall staff, continues to report that it is a daily occurrence for them to run out of the green on-the-go boxes.
Where did the green on-the-go boxes come from? Before the dining hall settled on the green boxes, Emmerson said that the plan “changed many, many times.” He added, “We’ve always had the green on-the-go boxes…[They were] a choice for students [faculty, and staff] that wanted to take food out but still be sustainable.” When he proposed the boxes as the safest solution for COVID-19 restrictions this fall semester, the administration decided to buy five hundred more and let every residential student use them as well. The green boxes were the solution to the loads of waste that styrofoam takeout containers produced.
“For the first week or so, [the boxes were] working out rather well, and then we noticed they were starting to run out during the meals… We were relying on everyone to bring it back with them when they came for their next meal,” Emmerson said. Afterwards, he mentioned that this was an inconvenient solution for students, so he got into contact with Matthew Freed, the recycling coordinator. Initially there were small blue collection bins placed around campus, which overflowed almost immediately according to Emmerson. This spurred a change to use bigger, trash-sized bins that hold about fifty green boxes. Each morning the dining hall staff brings back the green boxes and washes them to prepare for the day to come.
With all of these extra steps in place, Emmerson still reports running out of green on-the-go boxes during lunch and dinner. Between meals, the dining hall staff washes more boxes just to keep up. Emmerson isn’t angry about the shortage, but since the boxes aren’t getting returned, it leaves him asking, “What more can we do to make it easier for students to return [the green boxes]?”
Sue Cockley, Dean of the School of Theology, Humanities, and Performing Arts, believes that it is the students’ responsibility. “It’s really important for all of us to develop new habits,” she said. “Returning those green boxes is another one of those habits that once you get started becomes natural and it’s not difficult.”
The main concern of Cockley and Emmerson is about sustainability. Cockley said, “If [the boxes] aren’t returned, we will have no choice but to resort to styrofoam… We really want to avoid that.”
Freed provided a list of locations where the blue collection bins are positioned so that you can deposit your green boxes. Cedarwood, Maplewood, and Elmwood each have depositing points at their entrances, as well as the north exit of Hillside. At the main entrance of the dining hall there is a depositing point for you to drop off boxes on your way in.
“We’re going to have to do these takeout meals for a long time,” Cockley said. In other words, the green boxes are the most sustainable, long-term solution—students can do their part by making sure their boxes get back to where they belong.
