Spring Break
Eco-Friendly Eating
LSC features corn-based eating disposables
Shayna Grajo
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News
|
Select Lory Student Center dining vendors, such as Bagel Place, at the start of semester began carrying green-friendly cutlery and straws made of biodegradable cornstarch rather than petroleum-based plastic.
Gradually, all food disposables offered by LSC Dining Services - cups, plates, napkins and more - will be manufactured from renewable resources.
The managers of Bagel Place and Cam's Lobby Shop have worked since May to organize the inventory influx of sustainable, environmentally friendly products.
Ken DeVault, Bagel Place manager and retail operations manager for LSC Dining, said the effort to go green stemmed from university input and restaurant industry trends indicating growth of consumer demand for sustainable practices.
"(LSC Dining) has been given student input, and that's what we base everything that we do on," DeVault said. "Students … want to start using recycled material as a group."
National trends and the desires of students have fueled the push toward environmentally friendly dining, DeVault said. He refers to the results of several annual CSU surveys, including the campus-encompassing Educational Benchmarking Inc. survey, showing that students favor a green movement.
Last year's National Restaurant Association conference in Chicago notes "green items" is "one of the largest growing segments" of the industry, he added.
Even everyday conversation has cemented DeVault's confidence in the shift.
"I know that in-house comments from student customers and student employees have been, 'Hey, we should do this,'" DeVault said.
Through copious phone calls, Cam's Lobby Shop manager Hal Maddox helped the LSC Dining management team perform preliminary research.
"Everything we're looking into is made of either corn or sugarcane pulp, pretty much," Maddox said.
The Bagel Place currently purchases its cutlery and straws from Eco-Products, a Boulder-based company established in 1990. Eco-Products best serves the purchasing needs of LSC Dining, Maddox said, due to the wide variety of products the vendor offers.
The cutlery and straws on shelves now consist of polylactic acid (PLA) plastic, touted by Smithsonian Magazine as "the future of plastic in a post-petroleum world."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Mary Osborn
posted 2/08/08 @ 7:06 AM MST
I think this is a fantastic way to make a difference in our world. Keep up the great efforts and "spread" the news. I think contacting major public school providers would be a great way to get the word out. (Continued…)
Post a Comment