The commitment to go green

By Ryan, October 7, 2015

By Deirdre Logan, Sports Editor//

It’s lunch time at High Point University. Looking around the Café or the Farmer’s Market, you see students with plastic to-go boxes and cups. Even the students who are dining in are drinking from plastic cups with lids and straws. There are no other options.
After only living at HPU for about a month now, I have noticed the amount of unnecessary plastic that is used. There are plastic to go boxes, cups, lids, straws, plastic bags from the C Store and an endless supply of water bottles given out at the kiosks. On top of that, there is a lack of proper recycling disposal bins. The HPU Green Team works hard to encourage students to recycle, but there is much more that could be done. Let’s explore the options that High Point could take to be a more “Green” campus.
Solution 1: Reusable Cups at every Dining Site
All of the dining sites on campus have the option of eating from a reusable dish or a to-go box, but they do not offer the same for cups. The Café, The Farmer’s Market, The Point Sports Grill, The Great Day Bakery, The Silver Line Diner and The Grill all have the same problem. If there was an option to use a reusable plastic cup, it would save money and help the environment. Students are happy because they get the option to choose and it works out well for the environment.
Solution 2: Tapingo Specifications
Tapingo, an app that lets students pre-order and pay for food via their passport, is popular among High Point students. Students can make selections as to which HPU Dining option they want, the type of food, and specific substitutions. The one thing that is not an option on Tapingo is selecting dine-in or take-out. This results in most of the food being packaged in plastic take-out boxes, even if students are dining in. A simple solution to this issue is the addition of a dine-in or take-out question while ordering food. This option will help cut down on the use of plastic to-go boxes.
Solution 3: Use Eco-friendly To-go Boxes
Not only are students unnecessarily using to-go boxes when they dine in, but the boxes are plastic. The best option that High Point could take is investing in eco-friendly take out boxes as well as eco-friendly plates and silverware. If box options were be biodegradable, we could make less of a negative impact on the environment and really be “green.”