Last October, Sierra Mitchell, Special Project Coordinator of the Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Sustainability Council, attended The Association for the Advancement of Substantiality in Higher Education (AASHE) conference.
The AASHE aims to inspire higher education to improve sustainability on a global scale. Mitchell’s main goal was to expand the ideas of the sustainability conference, and apply this to CMU’s campus by creating reusable to-go boxes.
When Mitchell brought the idea back to campus, the school’s food service provider Sodexo was all on board with the idea. Sodexo asked for the guidance and resources of the Sustainability Council to execute the initiative. Having these reusable boxes will have a substantial impact on the amount of waste generated by CMU.
Every year, CMU produces approximately “3,000 pounds of Styrofoam that is used and thrown away to landfills” Sierra Mitchell said.
The Sustainability Council is trying to limit the amount of waste and Styrofoam that is being thrown away in the landfill. Furthermore, the reusable boxes are microwave friendly, more spacious, and washable.
With a one-time fee of two dollars, students can purchase these boxes for the full year. CMU has seen over three hundred students commit to using their reusable boxes.
The Sustainability Council wants the CMU community to be more environmentally conscience, and are currently expanding this project to the library dining hall. The Sustainability Council wants to give a big thank you to Sodexo and the students for participating.
For more information on the Sustainability Council’s future projects, follow them on Instagram @cmu_sustainability_council.
