For almost a year, Temple students have been using disposable plastic plates and utensils at the Esposito Dining Center in Johnson and Hardwick Hall after the building’s dishwasher system broke down. Now, the dining center has plans to return to washable dishware in the spring semester when a new functional dishwasher is installed.
The dining center switched to single-use plastic when the dishwasher broke down after 13 years of use. The hall has struggled to uphold sustainable practices as a result.
“With regard to equipment, you reach a point where maintenance and upkeep becomes more expensive,” said Michael Scales, associate vice president for business services. “There’s a cost-benefit to keeping it, and so it reached the end of its life.”
Installing a replacement dishwasher was initially delayed because the university was evaluating which equipment would best meet the school’s sustainability goals, which includes investing in energy efficient projects.These projects reduce energy use and overall costs to the university.
“When this situation arose, it was decided that whatever we’re buying to replace the old [dishwasher] is way more efficient from an energy and water standpoint,” said Rebecca Collins, director of sustainability at Temple.
Once the university decided on a dishwasher, supply chain issues extended the purchasing process, Scales said. The COVID-19 pandemic is still leaving lingering effects on the availability of equipment in the food service industry, according to Food Service Equipment and Supplies magazine.
When the machine eventually arrived, its installation in Esposito was delayed yet again. The new equipment is incompatible with the rate of water from the building’s supply line, leading to excess water waste.
When Johnson Hall was constructed in 1960, the university did not focus on water efficiency as much as it does now, Collins said. Today, Temple reduces overall water usage by five percent through reusing water from sinks and showers, using stormwater management systems and installing low-flow faucets and fixtures.
The university plans to modify the water supply line during winter break to match the rate of water the dishwasher needs, Scales said.
In the meantime, the use of plasticware in the dining hall has created recycling problems.
Plastics labeled #1, #2 and #5, typically written on the bottom of plastic plates, containers, cups or bottles, are encouraged to be recycled in Philadelphia, according to the City of Philadelphia’s recycling program. However, differing plastics are used in each disposable utensil in the dining hall and can be labeled #5 or #6. With no physical characteristics distinguishing the plastics from each other, it’s difficult to sort them for recycling purposes, so they end up being trashed instead.
Additionally, most machines in recycling facilities can’t handle items smaller than two to three inches, which includes some plasticware in the dining hall. Utensils are flat enough to fall through the machine and possibly get jammed in between the gears, Collins said.
The inability to recycle these plastics is contrary to Temple’s sustainability plan, including the university’s goal of maintaining a 50 percent diversion rate for waste that would go into a landfill.
The university explored temporary solutions other than plasticware alongside installing the new dishwasher. Aramark, the food services company contracted with Temple, considered the possibility of transporting any used plates and silverware to a dishwasher in another building, but they did not have enough staff to support it, Collins said.
“It was challenge after challenge after challenge of just wanting to do the right thing and being limited by the supply chain, or the existing building or staffing,” Collins said.
Caroline Kotch, Temple Student Government’s sustainability director, is working on an initiative to make reusable takeout containers available in Esposito, the Howard Gittis Student Center and Morgan Hall Food Court.
Inspired by Boston University’s Choose to Reuse program, the initiative would allow students to take the containers from the dining hall and return them later to be cleaned and reused instead of only being kept in the hall. The idea combines the ability to take food out of student dining areas with not using single-use utensils.
“I feel like there’s so much more opportunity for sustainable methods,” Kotch said. “There’s only one dining hall, one group of staff, all students go to one building. It’s definitely an opportunity for us to work on more sustainability.”
Morgan Dining Hall’s permanent closure was announced on Aug. 17, leaving Esposito as the primary residential dining option. While Morgan was open, Esposito made an average of 1,600 meals a day in the 2022-23 academic year. It currently makes an average of 2,100 meals a day, Scales said.
Esposito’s broken dishwasher is similar to an incident that previously occurred in Morgan in October 2018, when the dishwasher broke and the hall used plasticware for the next year.
If the plan to return to reusable dishware succeeds, Espostio will have gone 14 months using single-use plastic.
“There is a lot of effort and problem solving that’s going into making sure that we are trying to address the problem as quickly as possible,” Collins said. “We do understand that it is very important both from a sustainability perspective and also something that students really care about. It’s not happening as quickly as any of us had hoped, but I would say I have every confidence that by spring semester, this will be addressed and this will no longer be an issue.”
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