Last semester, Connecticut College implemented a mug share program allowing access to reusable, portable mugs that could be carried out of dining halls along with their contents. The mugs could then be returned to the dining halls or deposited in collection bins for cleaning and reuse. The initiative was part of an effort to satisfy student demand for transporting coffee and other drinks from the dining halls in a sustainable fashion, and relied on safe return of the mugs to maintain the program.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Students were borrowing mugs and not returning them to the dining halls. “I cannot tell you how many times I walked into a room and saw five of them sitting on someone’s desk” said Natalie Bennet ’16. Mugs piled up in classrooms, common rooms and laundry rooms, while the collection bins in the dining halls and Cro stayed empty. Now, the mug share program is on hiatus.
“The mug share program stopped because there was not enough available inventory at the end of last semester. About 88% of the mugs went missing,” explained Chair of Environmental Affairs Sarah Huckins ’14. “Apparently there wasn’t enough of an incentive to return the mugs.”
“I’d love for it to come back,” says Mike Kmec, Dining Hall and Board Plan Manager, of the mug share program. “The problem is, there were 2,500 mugs bought, now less than 300 left. The students didn’t give them back. If the program does come back there needs to be an accountability system.”
“Students couldn’t police themselves, and all that money was just thrown away,” said Kmec, “which is sad because it wasn’t Dining Service’s money, it was student money.”
Huckins agreed, mentioning that she is going to work with Kmec to revitalize the program. “We don’t have anything concrete yet, but we will have more information to come soon after preliminary research.”
Huckins added, “The overall response I got from students about the program was overwhelmingly positive. Right now I’ve received a lot of feedback about desire for the mug share program to return. However, currently there is a general lack of consensus among students about how best to restructure the program.”
Another Dining Services program is on hiatus because of students’ irresponsible behavior. “Food that has been cooked but not served in the past has been donated to a soup kitchen in New London,” Kmec said. “However, it has not been consistent. Because of too much turnover every semester, students will start [the program] but things happen and the food doesn’t get donated for one reason or another.” This year there is no program currently in place to donate this food, but Kmec is hopeful it will be reintroduced if the students who are committed to it stay committed. Currently, though, the food is just being wasted. “Already cooked food that hasn’t been served to the public is kept and used as a leftover,” Kmec said. “Any food left that has already been served to the public has to be thrown out until we get the soup kitchen program running again.”
There are many environmentally-friendly initiatives on campus to make our community more sustainable. Many of our buildings are Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certified; we have Sprout Garden which produces foods used in our dining halls and we have Sustainability Representatives who write grants for new programs.
However, all these initiatives are either run by environmentally-minded individuals or put in place by the college. In order for these programs to return, the entire student body must cooperate and learn to be conscientious of their impact on programs designed entirely to their benefit.•
How about if students who wished to participate in the mug reuse program had to purchase them? If students had to buy a new mug each time they wanted to carry out coffee, maybe they’d start remembering to bring their mug along!