By Hayden Mortensen
Reporter
COVID-19 impacts the respiratory system, and its mitigation is important to the ecosystem. Public health precautions put some environmental sustainability measures on hold at Pacific Lutheran University. Rest assured, the precautions are for the benefit of community safety, and PLU Campus Restaurants is doing what is needed to support environmental preservation as much as possible.
Campus Restaurants upholds the people-first emphasis of PLU sustainability to “care for people, care for the planet, and prosperity, both now and in the future.” My article in the previous online edition of The Mast highlighted the changes made by Campus Restaurants to prevent COVID-19 transmission. One of the most obvious changes is takeout meals. Since every meal is takeout, Campus Restaurants needs lots of disposable packaging.
Erin McGinnis, PLU’s Associate Vice President for Hospitality and Retail Services, reiterated that disposables are not ideal, but they are necessary for procedural flexibility. She said PLU’s dining hall, The Commons, will resume the use of china and silverware once all COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. It would be too difficult to gracefully deal with technicalities that come with limited-capacity seating.
Campus Restaurants works hard to obtain the necessary amount of takeout containers and utensils. There’s a high demand for them. “We are experiencing Covid-19 related supply chain shortages that limit our access to the volume of disposable ware that we require,” said McGinnis, “We continue to evaluate options to improve the sustainability factor of the items we are purchasing.”
Campus Restaurants continues to use renewable bamboo chopsticks as well as napkins made out of 100% recycled material. Plant-based containers for takeout are also still used, but not all menu items can hold up in them.
Two environmental positives are the reductions in food waste and water use — Much less dishware needs to be washed, therefore there is much less water being used. Food is wasted less now that there are no All You Care to Eat meals.
Both of those factors help Campus Restaurants financially while it deals with fluctuating serviceware purchases.
Students recognize the environmental impacts of disposable containers and utensils, but understand the circumstances. Senior Ali Smith says she’s sad to see an influx of waste, but she’s glad PLU is taking necessary steps to create safe spaces during the pandemic.
The PLU community can help with sustainability efforts during this unprecedented time. In fact, several community members already do. First-year Ella Merte recycles her food packaging because most of it is plastic. Smith, a veteran of on-campus dining, carries silverware with her to avoid using plastic utensils that cannot be recycled. She also uses paper bags to pack belongings and to take out her recycling.
Further tips on how to contribute to environmental preservation can be found at www.plu.edu/sustainability. It is recommended to practice these good habits because the responsibility of sustainability rests on everyone, not just Campus Restaurants.
