EMU Food Service will deduct 50 cents from the purchase price of coffee for customers who bring in their own cup or mug and will also add 50 cents to the purchase price of those who don’t starting Thursday, April 26. The EMU will place the additional 50 cents charged to customers in a sustainability fund for future projects.
Food Service will also offer an “Adopt-A-Mug” program, which will allow students to use a cleaned mug from a cache. Food Services hopes to have the cache frequently stocked.
Starting April 26th in the Buzz Cafe will implement a policy for those who bring their own cups for drinks will save 50 cents. (Tess Freeman/Oregon Daily Emerald)
These changes are a result of the “Fifty for Five Thousand” contest@@http://50for5000.uoregon.edu/@@that asks students to submit ideas about how to reduce the amount of paper cups used by 5,000 in the school year.
“We had the intention of devising a process that would promote us to save some disposable cups,” said Allen Faigin@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Allen+Faigin@@, director of food services and creator of the contest. “We are always looking for ways that we can expand the University’s sustainability initiatives.”
University student Ariana White@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Ariana+White@@ created the carrot-and-stick approach, as well as the idea behind the “Adopt-A-Mug” program. White will receive $50 and a “Golden Bottomless Mug” created by The Craft Center. With the mug, White can receive free coffee for the year.
“What we are hoping to see is an eventual equilibrium of people that buy cups, and people that bring in cups. Right now, it’s about 50 to 1,” Faigin said.
The EMU has been making additional steps toward being more environmentally conscious beyond the “Fifty for Five Thousand” contest.
“We look at everything through a lens of sustainability now,” EMU Interim Director Wendy Polhemus @@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Wendy+Polhemus+@@said. “With any project that we do, we want to be a leader on campus.”
The EMU recently received a grant for an herb garden to be placed in the outside dining area on the south side, as well as money for a pedal-powered milkshake machine.
“It’s really about taking everything we do and putting it through a lens of, ‘What’s the overall impact on the environment?’” Polhemus said.
Allie Sasek,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Sasek@@ a University student and member of Climate Justice League’s “Take Back the Tap” campaign, thinks more can steps can be taken beyond the contest’s results.
“It’s a good idea, but in regards to sustainability, it’s one small step,” Sasek said.
The EMU will hold a ceremony for the contest winner and the runner-up this Tuesday at 3 p.m. in the Fish Bowl.
