Dining Halls Conduct Poll

Preliminary feedback from a dining hall survey conducted last Wednesday indicates growing student concern about the University's recycling efforts, according to dining services officials.

The dining services are currently tabulating the 22-question poll, which focused on student concern for environmental responsibility.

The survey covered topics ranging from the distribution of reusable plastic John Harvard mugs to the drawbacks caused by widespread food and napkin waste and by Harvard decentralized dining system.

Union Food Service Supervisor Kenneth Hoogvliets said that many of the surveys he has read reflect great interest in improving the University's recycling efforts.

Nearly five sixths of the first-years polled said they would be willing to accept a more costly meal plan in order to strengthen the dining hall's recycling effort, Hoogvliets said.

But while undergraduates demand more attention to environmental responsibility, Hoogvliets and other dining services officials pointed to obstacles which are likely to hinder the task.

Hoogvliets said students who take more food than they eat and more napkins than they need pose a menace to an efficient program.

He expressed "concern [regarding] the tremendous amounts of food that are thrown away each day."

Lowell Dining Hall Manager Edward Hopes said the decentralized house system "lacking one central recycling station makes institution environmentally-conscious programs all the more difficult."

If students are more conscientious about avoiding unnecessary food disposal, there is more usable surplus, which can be given to local homeless shelters, according to Quincy House Food Service Supervisor Ridwan Himawan.

"Small things like encouraging students to take only what they can eat and to conserve napkins can make a big difference," Himawan said.

All dining hall workers who were interviewed expressed optimism concerning the recycling campaign initiated by Dining Services Director Michael P. Berry.

Berry goes "above and beyond the requirements of law" in improving the environmental friendliness of Harvard's dining halls, Hiwaman said.

Hopes said the use of John Harvard mugs has already begun to reduce paper waste.