A couple of days ago the Diamondback reported a story about the reusable dinning containers used by University of Maryland students. The article looked at the growing popularity of the reusable containers and the university’s plan moving forward.
As stated in the article, students pay a one-time fee of $5 for the first container, and then receive tokens for the following containers. Eventually, the $5 is paid off because students pay an extra 25 cents for each time he or she uses non-reusable take-out containers.
According to the article, there has been more of an effort by students to use the containers. Since implemented last semester, “officials said they saw a few hundred OZZI containers used each week, but last week, students used more than 1,300 containers in the North Campus Diner. On average, officials said, the number of containers in use has increased by about 200 per week since the start of the semester.”
Also, to keep in mind, there are more than 8,000 students on meal plans. Hopefully, the number of students using the reusable dinning containers will continue to rise.
What’s great about this initiative is that it is efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable. It’s important to enact programs that have these qualities because people are less likely to change behavior unless they are saving money, time, and the Earth.
And it really gets difficult to have all these qualities. Yes, we ideal would like a green lifestyle, but if it greatly effects time and money, people would be less willing to accept it and change.
I don’t have all the answers, but I strongly feel that it is important to take these chances on initiatives that have the potential to be very beneficial for everyone and of course, Earth. I hope the University of Maryland aggressively continues their green initiatives and continue to lead a great example to other universities.
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