The dining service of BrownUniversity has introduced new salad containers which are eco-friendly and supposed to be compostable. The retail dining staff is quite optimistic about these, but some of the students are raising eyebrows at them. On the whole, this move initiated by the Dining Services of Brown University has attracted quite a bit of attention.

Eco-Friendly Food Containers at Brown Dinning Services

The eateries at BrownUniversity – Josiah and the Blue Room – have the options of plastic salad containers as well as these new compostable containers. The new containers were first introduced by the culinary manager – Aaron Fitzsenry – for the Blue Room. The bottoms of these compostable containers are made of compostable material created from wheat straw. However, the tops of these containers are made of plastic. The plastic containers look like they can hold more food than the new compostable ones. This is because the new containers are shallower and have more space compared to their plastic counterparts. But according to the staff at the eateries, this is not the case. Both types of container are capable of holding equal quantities of food. The new containers are manufactured by World Centric, which is a company that produces eco-friendly food packaging.

Eco-Friendly Food Containers for the Students

The dining service of BrownUniversity has already introduced eco friendly promotional items to reduce waste generated at the campus. They have already taken measures to decrease the amount of plastic bottles that were used on the campus, and they have also introduced other eco-friendly food containers that can be used multiple times. The new containers can be used as manure once decayed. This is because these containers are free of gluten and are made of wheat chaff and grain remains. However, some of the students are not taking these new salad containers too well, because they think these are smaller than the old ones.

Students registered with SCRAP – the University's composting initiative – are looking at it the move from another angle, though. They think that these containers cannot be composted with the help of the small-scale compost programs carried out. According to them, these containers would require large-scale compost systems for decay, and currently there is no such facility available. The staff is still optimistic, especially since these containers can be decayed naturally. The staff is also saying that they are working on sending these biodegradable containers to a commercial facility where they can be composted after their use is over.

Source: http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/03/11/dining-services-adopts-eco-friendly-bowls/