Harbus

Issue date: 1/29/07 Section: Viewpoints

Why is it so hard to talk about environmentally-conscious decision making at HBS?

As you walk through the Spangler Dining Hall today, take a look at the plates that we choose for eating. At most tables, more than half of the students use disposable plates despite the availability of environmentally sound alternatives. Polystyrene foam has a useful life of minutes or hours, but continues to exist for millennia. Why do we as HBS students choose to generate unnecessary waste on a daily basis? More importantly, why is it so hard to change our ways?

Initially, I thought that dining services might intentionally prompt wasteful behavior to save on dish washing costs. I was dead wrong. According to Bill Monnen, the Director of Operations at Restaurant Associates (which runs the Spangler concessions), washing dishes is the more economical option. "China plates are only a small percentage of what my dishwashers clean, so even if we used no china, I would still have the same labor cost, the dish machine would still run all day costing me for the water and power to heat the water and run the machine."

Procuring the Styrofoam and disposing of it, on the other hand, do contribute to costs. Restaurant Associates spends approximately $35,000 a year (that's almost tuition, folks!) buying disposables for our use. The actual disposal costs are unknown. However, with over 500,000 clamshells filling HBS trashcans each school year, disposal costs are bound to be significant. In fact, disposal of Styrofoam has been deemed so costly that over 100 American cities have banned the substance all together. Berkeley, California and Portland, Oregon led the way over 20 years ago, and Oakland's ban just came into effect this month.

HBS, however, is behind the times. Students do not recognize that costs of disposables are real, even if not paid explicitly at the cash register. So what can we do about it?

This year Monnen and his team have significantly increased the availability of reusable cups, introduced reusable china bowls, encouraged recycling of the clear plastic clamshells, and asked their employees to prompt students with the question, "is that for here?" in order to encourage the use of reusable cups and plates.

However, in an era when "the customer is always right," Restaurant Associates is finding it tough to influence consumer behavior. With a bit of student pressure, they agreed to place signs in the dining hall encouraging students to choose reusables. These signs state, "Use China: Same Price Big Difference." Unfortunately, the ambiguity of the word choice makes it seem as though Restaurant Associates is encouraging students to consider business opportunities in Asia rather than curb unnecessary use of disposables. Restaurant Associates appears reluctant to use more specific language, fearing that explicitly encouraging environmental behavior would compromise the dining experience and atmosphere.

Continued...

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