PLU prioritizes sustainability; I noticed this everywhere during my first month here. They have introduced the reusable Green Box Program in The Commons to prevent waste from to-go boxes and separated recycle, landfill, and glass bins on campus. PLU even gives on-campus students complimentary garbage and recycling bins for their rooms.
During orientation, new students listened to numerous speakers who were involved in the Diversity, Justice, and Sustainability (DJS) office. After hearing them speak, I noticed those three words everywhere. Overall, PLU seems to put in its all to enforce environmental friendliness throughout campus.
PLU’s commitment to sustainability even extends to its dining facilities and cafes. Old Main Market (OMM) is one of four places on campus, not including the many walkable restaurants in the area, where you can get a snack, buy a small necessity that you may have forgotten from home, or get your coffee in the morning. It’s like Starbucks meets 7-Eleven, as my Lute group leader described it. This popular eatery plays its part in sustainability by using compostable cups, straws, and sandwich bags, and banning the sale of plastic water bottles.
According to PLU Hospitality Services and Campus Restaurants, bottled water has not been sold on campus since the passage of a student-run initiative and ASPLU Senate Resolution 6 in 2011. And as a result, our school reduced landfill use by 68.62%.Â
However, when I go to OMM at the end of my day to get myself a drink, I find myself staring at their wide selection. OMM offers soda, smoothies, iced tea, and more.Â
All of them come in plastic bottles.Â
OMM does offer a 25-cent price reduction on drinks ordered in a personal reusable cup — like coffees and Italian sodas — but their self-serve slushies, Frazil, must be purchased in the plastic cups OMM offers.
While limiting plastic water bottles does reduce plastic production and waste significantly, it’s interesting to me how many other plastic products PLU sells, despite its commitment to DJS.
PLU’s Working Groups on Sustainability says that “Sustainability is a value that emphasizes the inseparable importance of environmental, economic, and ethical principles; it is also a goal that calls us to ensure that our present way of life does not degrade that of future generations, but leaves the world better.”
How can PLU spread the value of sustainability while still selling plastic products by the dozens?Â
They must be aware of this problem but have done nothing to address it.
If PLU really cares about sustainability, they need to show it in their campus dining facilities. They can allow students the option to use reusable cups for their Frazil slushies. They can encourage options other than drinks served in plastic. And they can own up to the amount of single-use plastic they waste as a product of these dining facilities.
