Glad To Go: Towards Sustainability
Benedetto Maniscalco | January 26, 2023
Willow Solomon
Student receiving to-go boxes in Glatfelter dining hall.
Beginning in Spring 2023, Gladfelter is discontinuing its use of disposable takeout boxes in favor of reusable to-go boxes. The change comes with a system for exchanging boxes, which was explained by the CORE Crew during tablings in the first week of the semester.
The system was also explained in a Student-l email sent out on Jan. 18.
Summer Vishnu is the Sodexo Marketing and Sustainability Coordinator at Warren Wilson College (WWC). Vishnu explained how the boxes can be accessed.
“Instead of the compostable single-use boxes we had last semester, we will only be using the green reusable Glad Boxes,” Vishnu wrote. “To use these boxes, you need to join the program by picking up your box at one of the tabling events happening in the Gladfelter lobby throughout the week. The program is free to any person with a meal plan (campus or commuter plan).”
The boxes cost five dollars for anyone not on a meal plan or in case of replacement. With that purchase or the meal plan comes a reusable green box as well as a cup with a lid and a carabiner.
“The Glad box program is simple,” Vishnu explained. “We give you a box, you fill it with food, and go enjoy your meal outside of Gladfelter. Next time you get food, bring your clean or dirty container back and get a clean one for a new to-go meal. Or, if you plan on eating in, return your old container and get a green carabiner you can exchange for a box next time you want to take food to go. Then the cycle repeats!”
The new system for eating takeout from Glad was implemented as a means of increasing campus sustainability.
The idea being increasing sustainability by decreasing waste. All waste on WWC goes through the Core Crew.
Elias Goldstein is the CORE Crew’s supervisor.
“ I think it's great,” Goldstein said. “Reducing the amount of waste that we have on campus in any way we can is definitely — I think — super important for us as a school.”
This change lightens the load for the CORE Crew overall with less material going to compost.
“It gives us a lot less to think about and worry about when we're going and doing our daily compost runs,” Goldstein said. “And also they're compostable. But it's still, you know, producing extra stuff in the world. Even if it's compostable, there's no need to just keep on producing stuff. So having this reusable option, I think, once people really start to dig into the system and really understand it, then I think it's great.”
The decision is both more sustainable and more cost-effective than the original method of compostable plates and boxes.
“It felt like a genuine move towards sustainability,” Goldstein said. “And seen as probably a win-win in terms of saving money and saving resources.”
A concern that Goldstein had, though, was that students may not necessarily find it as convenient as the previous system.
“This is a good thing,” Goldstein said. “Even if it's a little less convenient, sometimes, you know, the revolution is not going to be convenient. But also, this is not a revolution. This is like baby steps. And the school as a whole has a lot more that we can push for in order to advance sustainability on campus and to exercise your student power.”
Due to food and safety regulations, personal containers are now also not permitted leaving the new green boxes as the only method to have Glad takeout.