Penn Sustainability restocked their entire inventory of Green-to-Go boxes in response to the high rate of lost or damaged containers.
Credit: Abhiram JuvvadiPenn Sustainability observed a surge in damaged and lost Green2Go boxes at the start of the school year, leading to a restock of the entire inventory.
Green2Go boxes are provided to every on-campus resident once they move, according to the Penn Dining website. Students must return their Green2Go boxes at the end of each semester. Penn Dining also provides each student with a reusable utensil kit at the beginning of the academic year.
Despite participation in the Green2Go program, Penn Dining Operations Manager Thomas MacDonald told The Daily Pennsylvanian that students often neglect guidelines like rinsing and returning the containers after meals. Housekeeping told Penn Dining that they found boxes discarded in trash cans, lounges, and other areas at the end of the 2022-23 school year, MacDonald said.
"We have to replace the boxes every year; we shouldn't really have to do that. When students take them and throw them away, they're really defeating the sustainability initiative of keeping trash out of landfills,” Barbara Lea-Kruger, director of communications and external relations said.
Launched in 2013, the Green2Go program responded to Penn Eco-Reps' concerns about disposable to-go box waste. The initiative, facilitated by a Green Fund application, offers reusable meal containers, reducing single-use plastics by over 171,000 units since its start.
Input from original Eco-Reps, Residential Hospitality student workers, and Dining Advisory Board members shaped the box choice and distribution method, Lea-Kruger said.
Lea-Kruger added that initially, students had to return their previous container before they could get a new one. However, students complained of inconvenience, so the program evolved to the current system of returning the boxes after the end of the semester, Lea-Kruger said.
Penn Sustainability stressed the importance of students providing suggestions to prevent the amount of boxes that need to be repurchased.
“If any students have any ideas on how to help with the program, we’re open, because we have changed this program a lot through trying to balance the convenience for students with sustainability,” Lea-Kruger said.
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