UH Moment: "Green to Go"

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UH Moment: "Green to Go"

February 17, 2010

by: Marisa Ramirez

Lunchtime at the University of Houston dining halls comes with a side order of environmentalism. Listen to this week's UH Moment.

Students who want to eat and run will still have time to save the earth thanks to a new program that replaces Styrofoam containers with reusable, plastic to-go containers. Nearly 2,000 new to-go containers were issued to students with meal plans, as the university pushes forward with its green initiative.

UH is making the switch to reusable to-go containers

"Styrofoam is very slow to break down in the environment," said Edward Wigley, director of food service for residential dining. "By using the reusable we're eliminating all that going into the landfill and all the years it would take to break that down. And the containers themselves are recyclable, so it's a continuous life."

Other universities are pursuing the switch, though the UH version is different in an important way.

"It's innovative," said Jonas Chin, program coordinator for university services. "We're the first university in the United States of America to mandate a program like this, where we eliminate Styrofoam in our dining halls and residential halls."

The project joins other green initiatives on campus such as tray-less cafeterias, composting efforts, recycle bins and community gardens. Students are embracing this new way to "go green."

"For me personally, it's a passion to make the contributions that we can, while we're here on this earth," Wigley said. "We can teach about the necessity and the tools and the resources to go green, to save the earth."

Green To Go is part of what's happening at the University of Houston. I'm Marisa Ramirez.

Telling the stories of the University of Houston, this UH Moment is brought to you by KUHF, listener supported radio from the University of Houston.

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