In Plastic-Filled Dining Halls, Students Promote Sustainability

Some students are working to maintain environmental sustainability after dining hall workers began their strike and porcelain plates were replaced with disposable ware.

Since the start of Harvard dining workers’ historic strike, the normal washable dishes and silverware in the dining halls have been replaced with plastic and cardboard substitutes. In many houses, the student Resource Efficiency Program representatives have sent out emails to remind students to be conscious about recycling and sustainability during the strike.

Benjamin D. Grimm ’18, who was a REP in Kirkland House last year, said the waste system was unorganized the first day of the strike but has since improved. Many Kirkland residents ate their meals in neighboring Eliot after Harvard closed Kirkland's dining hall—among other upperclassman dining halls—to consolidate resources.

“The first day was a little crazy, there were a bunch of different unlabeled waste bins and people were sort of indiscriminately throwing things into them,” Grimm said. “A lot of students didn’t know the nuances, and there was no labeling.”

After the first night, he said the Eliot REPs put out signs to clearly indicate which bins are for compost, recycling, and trash. The signs even specify which items should go in each bin. Aldis Elfarsdottir ’18 coordinated with dining managers and staff in Eliot “to facilitate the separation of compostables and recyclables for the duration of the strike,” according to an email she wrote.

As it stands, many of the Houses with open dining halls are currently separating trash, recycling, and compost. Clean plastic plates and cups can be recycled, but the plastic utensils are neither recyclable nor compostable, and so have to be thrown in the trash.

Last Thursday, Currier switched to only compostable dining ware, Faculty Dean Latanya Sweeney wrote in an email to students. Tuesday, upon being reopened to students, Kirkland dining hall switched to compostable plates, utensils, and soup cups, according to Grimm.

Looking forward, Grimm said if the strike continues and the dining halls run out of plastic silverware, stocking all houses with compostable cutlery would be the best option.

Colin B. Durrant, a spokesperson for the Office of Sustainability, wrote in an emailed statement that “the REP students have been working very hard within the houses and dining halls to ensure that waste reduction practices, including recycling and composting, are implemented as much as is practically possible during the strike.”