Last year, when someone got a meal from a dining facility, they got a reusable plate and metal silverware. Once they were done eating, that plate and utensil disappeared on a dish belt to be cleaned. This semester, when you receive a meal, you are eating off of plastic plates and using plastic silverware. This recent switch has made dining halls less environmentally friendly.

As of their most recent payroll, Campus Dining Services only has 469 out of 700 student positions filled. Therefore, they are prioritizing having their employees work the buffets and cook food rather than wash dishes, Nancy Monteer, campus dining director, said. Understaffing has created a big problem, one that is not good for the environment.

Campus Dining staff is greatly lacking in Plaza 900 and Rollins dining halls specifically. Each location must use plastic plates, silverware and cups in order to lessen the amount of dishes that need to be washed. While some of the plastic is recycled, not all of the trash can be recycled or composted.

“It is really tough with food because anything that has any type of food contamination is immediately not recyclable,” Ian de Boer, president of Sustain Mizzou, said. “There’s really no good way to use plastic ware in a mass dining facility that isn’t going to create a lot of waste. It’s just not possible.”

Hand-washing dishes takes too much time and too many employees, according to Monteer. Campus Dining suggests utilizing automatic dishwashers to solve the problem.

“How do the dishes get washed at home?” Monteer said. “They get loaded into a dishwasher and they get unloaded out of a dishwasher. It takes people to load, unload and clean the dishwashers.”

There is a simple solution to this wasteful problem: hire more employees. However, Campus Dining has been struggling to recruit student employees this year. They believe students do not want to work for Campus Dining because they do not have the time or they choose other campus employment that requires less manual labor.

“Some of our jobs are pretty tough,” Monteer said. “Our students are hands-on helping produce the food, helping clean up the food and keeping the facilities clean. So when students have the choice, they choose a job that allows them to sit and study while they work.”

Because the minimum wage will increase in Missouri as of January 2019 due to Missouri Proposition B, also known as the $12 Minimum Wage Initiative, higher pay could push students to work for Campus Dining. However, once the law goes into effect, Campus Dining will not be increasing their hourly wage.

Currently they pay $8.64 per hour, which is 79 cents higher than the current minimum wage. In January, the pay rate will only be four cents above the minimum wage. Campus Dining will not pay their students higher than what they pay their full-time positions which ranges from $10.25 to $14. Therefore, every employee would need an increase.

“Looking at the potential for what [the wage increase] could cost, it is about a half a million dollars for students and full-time employees,” Monteer said.

Besides their interest in reducing plastic use, in the past, Campus Dining has invested their interests into making dining halls more environmentally friendly through composting. Campus Dining funded part of a composting facility in Bradford Research Center that was shut down due to broken equipment that is beyond repair.

“Are there attempts being made to resuscitate [the composting facility]? Absolutely,” Srinivasan Raghavan, MU sustainability manager, said. “But we have to confirm the pretty serious funding challenges that we face. At this point, I have submitted a request for a grant to purchase composting infrastructure. That would include the trucks, the bins, the containers, all of those kind of things.”

In addition to the composting attempt, Campus Dining makes an effort to be environmentally friendly by recycling all of the plastic cups used in dining halls. All of the cups go into a blue bin right outside of each of the dining facilities.

Students cannot lessen their plastic waste in dining halls because reusable containers are prohibited. Campus Dining sells a reusable mug that can be taken into facilities, but sanitation rules prevent the use of reusable silverware, plates and bowls, Monteer said.

Ian de Boer suggested that if a student wanted to address the plastic issues in dining facilities, not going to the dining halls may be a good way to send a message.

Campus Dining noted that awareness is the biggest thing students can partake in to be more environmentally friendly in dining halls. Knowing the different types of recyclables and which bin to put trash in is the key to being more sustainable.

“Campus Dining Services has reached out to partner with the larger campus to put up actual pictures of what can be recycled versus what can’t,” Monteer said. “This way, students are stopping and thinking before it just automatically goes into the bin.”

Campus Dining hopes to promote more students to work for them by giving out scholarships, discounts on meals, working with student schedules and allowing students to learn valuable skills they can use in future careers. Campus Dining says they welcome suggestions from students on how to recruit more employees.

_Edited by Alexandra Sharp | asharp@themaneater.com_