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BY YINGJIA WANG

In print | September 6, 2007

Over the summer, cups, plates and containers in Essie Mae’s and the coffee bars have undergone an environmentally friendly makeover. Thanks to the joint efforts of Earthlust, the Good Food Project, Dining Services and the Swarthmore administration, many of the containers used in the snack and coffee bars are now compostable. In most cases, these changes will not affect students’ wallets.

The switch to compostable containers was initially proposed by Earthlust’s Campus Greening Committee in the fall of 2005.

However, due to budgetary issues and resistance from the administration, the proposal did not take off until the Good Food Project began campaigning for it again in January of 2007.

According to Good Food Project co-founder Marshall Morales ’08, the idea to switch to compostable containers came about during talks between Good Food, Dining Services and the administration about starting a food-composting program at the college — a program that is currently in the planning stages. During discussions, Dining Services suggested that changes should be made so that the containers used to serve food could also be composted.

Morales saw this move as a sign that Swarthmore’s administration is not only supporting, but also matching student efforts.

“This is a really great case of the progress that Swarthmore is making. No longer are we just pushing an administration that would rather us be silent, but now we have an administration that is willing to meet us and even come up to us with great ideas,” Morales said.

Currently, the plates and takeout containers in Essie Mae’s are made from sugar cane and are compostable. The cups, cup carriers, cold cup lids and salad containers in the coffee bars are made from corn and are also compostable. Essie Mae’s will continue to use Styrofoam cups, as there is currently not enough room in the budget to replace them with their compostable counterparts. In addition, the lids used in the coffee bars for hot drinks are also not compostable because the compostable material cannot withstand the heat generated by the warmer beverages. Further details about the new containers can be found on posters in Essie Mae’s and the coffee bars.

While the cost of these new containers is significantly steeper than that of the old ones, Dining Services has worked to ensure that prices at Tarble and the coffee bars will not be affected.

The only pricing difference that students will find this year is that the coffee bars now charge $0.15 for a cup of water or an empty cup. Cups are still provided free of charge with coffee and tea, and the prices of the coffee and tea have not risen.

Dining Services Cash Operations Manager Gusti Ruhri estimates that the price of the compostable containers is approximately twice that of the previously used ones.

Despite the drastic rise in expenditures, Rhuri is excited about the new containers. “I’m nervous about [this change] because of the budget, but I think that it’s a good change to make. I’m very happy about this. It’s important that students care about this — it’s their future, their environment,” Ruhri said.

After its success with compostable containers, Good Food is continuing its work by way of a food-composting project.

Already approved by the college, Good Food is currently working on securing funds for this project. Having received previous support from the Lang Center, Student Budget Committee and the Scott Arboretum, Good Food is once again in talks with these groups about funding.

The motivation behind the program is not only to make Swarthmore a greener campus, but also to teach interested students how they can be more environmentally friendly both on campus and off.

“The big reason the school should be behind this is it teaches students to compost. A lot of students have approached us and want to learn how,” Morales said.

According to Morales, Good Food plans to start small by setting up composting bins in Tarble and Paces, then in the coffee bars and lastly in Sharples. Good Food members will then take these bins and deposit them in large concrete bins by the Scott Arboreteum office, where the food and containers would then be composted.

After about two months, the compost would be ready to be spread over campus garden beds.

Student response to Good Food’s recent efforts has been positive. Students praised both Good Food and Dining Services for the commitments they have made to the two new endeavors.

“I think the changes are a great step because Swarthmore students are already so environmentally conscious, and now Dining Services is showing that they really want to be a part of that. I know that there were changes in Sharples last year, so it seems like a lot of progress is being made,” Angelica Saada ‘10 said. "My sister went to Mount Holyoke, and they composted there, so it’s good to see that Swarthmore will be doing the same soon."

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