Compliance with the State of New York’s Food Services Guidance has required significant short-term changes to the way dining works at Vassar. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about this fall's dining program.
Q: Why is everything grab and go / bottled and canned this semester?
A: Self-serve buffets and beverage dispensers are not allowed as part of formal dining locations under current guidance. The lack of ability to offer self-service options led to the migration to grab-and-go containers for all meal distribution and bottles/cans for all beverages.
Q: Why are we using plastic bottles instead of other options like biodegradable plastic or boxed water?
A: The Office of Sustainability and Bon Appetit looked into alternatives like biodegradable and boxed water. The most significant hurdle to using these items comes from supply - most producers who offer more sustainable options are severely back-ordered. Many aren’t accepting new customers at all.
Q: What composting or recycling options do we have this semester?
A: One of the biggest challenges with recycling and composting is cross-contamination. A few pieces of plastic flatware can make an entire bin of food waste unsuitable for our composting program. Conversely, a relatively minor amount of food waste can lead to a bag of recyclables being rejected by our recycling provider. To ensure the lowest possible contamination rates, the composting program will continue exclusively with back-of-house dining waste, and the recycling program will focus on recycling bottles and cans in designated bins.
Q: Couldn't we move to reusing containers instead of having to throw them away?
A: The Office of Sustainability evaluated the feasibility of a reusable container program for dining operations, but this option also had severe challenges. Though durable, the existing to-go containers aren't suitable for a commercial-grade reuse program. Starting a program on the scale required with acceptable reusable containers would require substantial start-up costs and lengthy lead time.
Sanitation and reuse of 5000+ containers per day also poses massive logistical and staffing barriers. Dining, custodial, and grounds staff have all had to increase total shifts and workload to accommodate the changes made to campus dining. Since the goal for campus dining is to return to primarily dine-in operation at Gordon Commons as soon as it is safe to do so, the long-term viability of the program is limited.
Q: How long are these changes going to be in effect?
A: Only as long as they need to be. The Office of Sustainability, Purchasing, Facilities Operations, Dining, and a number of other units are developing plans for an enhanced recycling and waste diversion program to be phased in once it is safe to do so.
Was your question not answered? Please email sustainability@vassar.edu and we'll do our best to address it.