WASHINGTON - THE cafeteria tray is being elbowed out of US university canteens as campuses change the way students collect their food and look for savings in tough economic times.

Ditching the tray at the all-you-can-eat buffet in the student cafeteria has allowed the University of North Carolina, for instance, to save 113,000 litres of water a month, for the simple reason that the trays no longer have to be washed.

Getting rid of the trays has also resulted in less food being wasted, said Ms Monica Zimmer, spokesman for food services giant Sodexo.

'One pilot study we did showed food waste was reduced by up to 50 per cent on one campus,' Ms Zimmer said.

The food services company Aramark measured food wasted from more than 186,000 meals served at over 25 higher education institutions during the academic year.

It found that 'food waste quantity was reduced by 550 to 800 grammes per person per meal when trays were removed from dining facilities'.

'This represents a 25 to 30 per cent reduction in food waste per person,' Aramark said.

Since trays fell by the wayside at the University of Maine, the cafeteria has dished out 25 kilos less food per person, per year.

That represents a saving of not only 14 tonnes of food but also of 117,000 litres of water, and more than 240 kilos of detergent.

The total amount of money saved is US$79,000 (S$108,000) per year - not a sum to be sneezed at.

The movement towards what is eloquently called 'trayless dining' began roughly a year ago, and students have embraced the effort to promote environmental stewardship.

More than one-third of the 600 campuses served by Sodexo are already trayless, including reputable institutions such as the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Georgia Tech, and Tulane in New Orleans.

'The savings of water is quite astounding. Trayless dining saves about 200 gallons of water for every 1,000 meals served,' Ms Zimmer said.

According to Mr Scott Myers, director for food and vending at University of North Carolina, said the move has allowed the university to reduce water consumption by more than 30 per cent.

Trayless dining is also improving the diets of students, now less able to stack up copious quantities of food to take back to their table.

'Sodexo adopted this programme for its environmental benefits, but making for a better diet is definitely a benefit - an unintended consequence, maybe,' said Ms Zimmer.

But there is a downside to going trayless - it can wreak havoc with cleaning bills.

When a Sodexo executive wanted to show that he could carry a main course, salad and coffee up a flight of stairs at Georgia Tech, he tripped and soiled his suit.

'Our executive was trying it for the first time,' Ms Zimmer explained.

'He didn't have quite as much practice as the students, and anyway, students are very good at balancing.' -- AFP

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