Photo: Bonnie Azab Powell/UC Berkeley NewsCenter

Students at UC Bekeley's Crossroads Dining Commons go trayless.

Patrons accustomed to loading up their trays at UC Berkeley's residential dining halls have had to adjust their eating habits this semester.

In January, Berkeley joined other UC campuses and many universities across the country by eliminating the plastic trays in dining halls as part of an effort to reduce waste and make food service more sustainable.

"It's now the social norm. There's a stigma if you get a tray," said Rima Maher, a sophomore majoring in political economy, who was having lunch at Berkeley's Crossroads dining hall on April 12 with just a plate, bowl and silverware in front of her. "I don't eat less because of it. I'm not reducing waste. But it's a positive idea, and it's not much of a sacrifice."

For students, trayless dining is a tangible sign of UC's recently enacted sustainable foodservice initiatives that set goals for using products from organic or local sources, environmentally friendly practices and education on sustainability issues.

Trayless dining is intended to discourage people from taking more than they can eat, which cuts down on food waste and saves resources because there are no trays to wash. For those with disabilities or who insist on using a tray, they are available at a central location in dining halls that have a trayless policy.

Not having a tray forces people to juggle plates and bowls, which can be a hassle, and make more trips for more food.

"It's really hard to carry it all in your hands," said Min Kim, a junior economics major who was using a tray at Crossroads. "It's much less convenient."

Trayless trend growing

Davis, Irvine, Riverside and Santa Cruz were the first UC campuses to go trayless in 2008. UC Santa Barbara began trayless dining last fall, and UCLA is testing it at one of its dining halls.

So far, the effort is paying dividends. At Santa Cruz, food waste is down by more than 30 percent, saving nearly $500,000 in food expenditures and more than a million gallons of water a year, according to the UC annual report on sustainability. UC Irvine says food waste per person is down 25 to 30 percent, Riverside says it saves 8,000 gallons of water per week, and Davis reports waste reduction of nearly 50 percent since trayless dining was introduced.

The UC guidelines for campus-run dining services were added to the overall systemwide sustainability policy in September. On many campuses, though, the greening of dining halls and restaurants was already well under way.

UC leads nation

On their own, most campuses were making efforts at waste reduction, conserving resources and offering organic or locally grown food products. These efforts are also among the goals in the systemwide sustainable foodservice policy, which include:

• Having all campus-dining services to procure 20 percent of their food from sustainable sources (certified by a third party as organic or grown locally, among other criteria) by 2020.
• Having at least one dining facility per campus be certified as a green business, through a city or county certification program or through the Green Seal or Green Restaurant Association programs.
• Having campuses provide students with educational materials explaining the issues related to sustainable food products and foodservice business practices.
• Having campuses engage in outreach activities with their surrounding communities in support of common sustainability goals.
• Having feasibility studies on how to apply new guidelines to medical centers, contract-operated and franchised food operations completed in May.
• Having campuses to report on their progress toward meeting foodservice goals annually on Aug. 15, beginning in 2010.

Student interest in sustainability has been a driving force for new food policies and practices. The UC Board of Regents added foodservice to its sustainability policy after 10,000 students sent postcards requesting more sustainable options.

"In some ways I think it's expected because it's Berkeley, and where we are in California, it heightens the awareness of sustainability," said Chuck Davies, UC Berkeley's associate director for residential dining.

As of fall 2009, UC Berkeley and UC Davis had met or surpassed the 20 percent goal for sustainable food sourcing, and all other campuses offer organic and locally produced food choices for diners.

Other campuses are on track to meet or are exceeding the systemwide goals in a variety of ways.

UC San Diego switched to purchasing only fair-trade coffee, tea and sugar at all its dining facilities in fall 2009. Most other campuses offer fair-trade options as well. Fair-trade guidelines give farmers a guaranteed-minimum price as an incentive for using environmentally and socially beneficial practices.

"There is less environmental impact, and it's helping by improving working and living conditions," said Krista Mays, sustainability manager for Housing, Dining and Hospitality at UC San Diego, in describing the benefits of fair-trade policies. "It's the right way to do business."

Many campuses offer students a chance to buy fresh, locally grown produce. Davis, Riverside and San Diego have farmers markets at least once a week on campus that allow students to purchase vegetables and fruits using their residence hall meal plan. UC Santa Cruz dining services partners with the on-campus UCSC Farm to offer fresh produce to students using a meal plan.

In operations, UC Berkeley's Cal Dining received the nation's first organic certification on a college campus in March 2006 for its salad bars, and eight of UC Santa Cruz's nine facilities are certified as green businesses by the city of Santa Cruz.

Reduce, reuse

Programs to reduce waste with composting programs and replacing disposable dishes and utensils with compostable or reusable alternatives are in place at most campuses.

At UC Davis, Aggieware kits of reusable plastic dishware and utensils have replaced disposable products at organized gatherings in residence halls. About 100 resident advisers have access to the kits, which include napkins made from recycled paper and a compost bag. After an event, the dirty dishes and food scraps are packed up and returned to dining services for washing and composting, and a new kit is issued.

Toby's Spot is a UC San Diego program that allows takeout food orders to be served on permanent dishware. Plates and utensils are returned at a Toby's Spot located in each residence hall or apartment complex, where dining staff picks up the dirty dishes.

Many campuses also reduce waste by donating surplus food to local community groups. Riverside donates more than 24,000 pounds of excess food per year to the Inland Harvest, which distributes it to homeless shelters and food banks.

Education and outreach at campuses include sustainability information on dining Web sites and programs such as UC San Diego's "Econauts" and interns at UC Davis — students who work to educate their peers on the benefits of trayless dining, waste reduction, organic foods and other sustainable practices. Santa Cruz dining partners with the campus Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems on a number of internship, education and research programs.

The monetary savings from sustainability efforts can be used to offset the costs of other initiatives, such as expanding organic food choices or starting a composting program.

"That's the goal. That's really how we look at the program," said Dani Lee, sustainability manager for the Department of Sustainability and Nutrition at UC Davis' University Dining Services.

In the case of Aggieware, Lee said that resident advisers were spending a large part of their events budget for disposable products, but now that is no longer is that the case.

"Essentially they get extra money now that can go into food," Lee said. "We've seen an increase in purchases of sustainable options and more healthy choices."

UC's sustainability efforts are in line with the university's mission of education and public service, said Scott Berlin, director of Dining and Hospitality Services at UC Santa Cruz.

Since the campus took over its dining services from a contractor in 2004, UC Santa Cruz has been at the forefront of many sustainability programs and sometimes served as a laboratory, Berlin said. He gave an example of a student-run study of the amount of waste from dining halls going to landfills serving as the impetus for creating composting and trayless dining programs.

"There are already academic programs in existence, so it's a natural extension," he said

Many UC campuses are among the largest institutions in their cities and serve as a model for best practices on issues such as the environment, Berlin said.

"We can have a significant impact on our community by taking these steps," he said.

Harry Mok is principal editor in the UC Office of the President's Integrated Communications group. For more information, visit the UC Newsroom or follow us on Twitter.