No trays means less eaten, less wasted.

If you have been eating in the dining halls on Tuesdays, you may have noticed something missing.

The trays we all use to heap on them what we want to eat and cart it to our table are missing.

Centennial and Nelson Halls will have to continue to do without trays on Tuesdays for the winter quarter.

“Trayless Tuesdays is an effort by various environmental organizations, including the AUSA Sustainability Committee, the DU Environmental Team and supported by the Sustainability Council, to reduce our food waste, water waste and help students avoid the freshman 15,” said Zoee Turrill, off-campus senator and vice chair of the Sustainability Committee.

Sophomore Erin Hough, Sustainability Committee member, worked to help create the policy in hopes of benefitting DU and students in a variety of ways.

“Essentially, we are not providing trays in the dining halls every Tuesday this quarter with the goal of changing the culture of how we eat,” Hough said.

At other universities, where food service has gone completely trayless, food and beverage waste decreased by 30 to 50 percent on trayless days. About one-third to one-half gallons of water is used to wash each tray, said Turrill and Hough. They also mentioned studies at Cornell University that show students are prone to mindless eating, which means the more food you can fit on a tray, the more you will eat, despite how hungry you are or if you know you should not continue eating.

As well as not consuming extra food or wasting it, the food we save is donated to local homeless shelters.

“We are expecting a large decrease in food waste and water use. In fact, some of the dining hall staff has already expressed their enthusiasm for the changes they have seen,” said Hough.

But will that enthusiasm help make students as enthusiastic about the policy as well?

“For some people it is a hard transition, but if people understand that they can get one plate and one cup and then go back as many times as they want it becomes a lot easier to do. Overall, people who weren’t necessarily enthusiastic at the beginning really threw their support behind it once they learned a little more,” said Turrill.

On the first days of implementation there were representatives present to explain the new policy.

“The Sustainability Committee was formed under AUSA Senate last fall to promote student-led sustainability initiatives,” said Hough.

For more information about the Sustainability Committee you can visit www.du.edu/orgs/senate and click on “Sustainability.”