Uw-Stout takes initiative on 'green' food packaging

Move will save energy, reduce carbon dioxide
By Pamela Powers, Leader-Telegram, Nov. 30, 2009

MENOMONIE - UW-Stout's University Dining Services started the semester working toward going more "green."

The service switched to commercially compostable packaging for all food and beverages served in disposable containers.

All of the products used in the university's residence dining halls for take-out food are compostable.

In the university's nine dining retail operations, more than 80 percent of the packaging has been replaced with materials that are compostable.

This includes cutlery, hot and cold cups and lids, plates, hot and cold bowls, straws and clamshell-style hinged containers.

Some packaging is made from corn starch or a material reclaimed from sugar cane, said Ann Thies, director of dining services.

It costs about 60 cents total for a hinged container, a cup and cover, and cutlery, about twice the cost of Styrofoam and plastic, Thies said.

The extra cost is passed on to the people buying take-out food in the cafeteria. In the dining retail areas, the extra expense also is built into pricing.

While the compostable products cost more, their production uses less energy and produces less carbon dioxide compared with the traditional Styrofoam and plastic.

Using a program developed by Eco-Products of Colorado, the primary supplier of compostable packaging, UW-Stout has estimated it will save 2,755 gallons of gasoline and 27,146 pounds of greenhouse gases this school year by not using petroleum-based products.

"From my perspective, it is an important first step," said Sarah Rykal, UW-Stout environmental sustainability coordinator.

The next step will be to find a commercial compost site, which the university hopes to accomplish by January, Thies said. University officials met last month with a waste hauler about the project.

Currently the compostable items are going to a landfill, where they will not turn into compost.

When composting begins, the materials can be reused as ground cover for soil.

Powers can be reached at 715-556-9018 or pamela.powers@ecpc.com.

Click here to go to original article