I often repeat the same routine at each campus eatery. I enter Bear’s Den, Holmes Lounge or the Village, order my food, wait for it to be given to me in a to-go box, grab a plastic knife, fork, cup and straw, sit down in the location, eat my food and then throw out my containers and utensils as I walk out.

Eggs, mozzarella sticks and hopefully disposable boxes: These are among the losses in the wake of Dining Services’ changes for the new academic year.
Dining Services has implemented changes to the Eco To-Go system and created a new system for salad bar and frozen yogurt purchases in an effort to reduce waste and address student concerns about flat-rate pricing.

Hot on the eco-friendly heels of Paws & Go’s plastic bag embargo, Wash. U. student group Net Impact aims to implement an expansion of its Eco To-Go box initiative.

If one Washington University student group is successful in garnering student support, Bear’s Den will be a disposable-box-free zone by fall 2014. Net Impact, the group behind the Eco To-Go box initiative, released a survey on Facebook the week before Thanksgiving seeking student feedback to gauge the effectiveness of its current program.

About a week ago, a blog post written by sportswriter Jeff Pearlman on March 21 began widely circulating online. Pearlman is an adjunct journalism professor at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., who doubled as the advisor to Manhattanville’s student newspaper, Touchstone, during the 2011-12 school year.

In a continued effort to paint the University green, Washington University Dining Services recently unveiled changes designed to maximize ecological efficiency and enhance culinary enjoyment. Though no doubt well-intended, some of the alterations leave a less-than-The-Daily-Meal-top-university-meal taste in our mouths.

In a continued effort to make campus dining more sustainable, Dining Services and Bon Appetit released a pair of new to-go box options at the start of spring semester—a compostable, disposable box and a redesigned reusable box.