Chartwells has phased out Styrofoam plates and petroleum-based cups and utensils in cafeterias on campus in an effort to decrease its carbon footprint.
Reggie Conerly, director of Chartwells, started the Spring Semester with a shipment from Eco-Products, a natural plastics distributor. Conerly said at the beginning of the semester that they had been waiting for the order to come through for more than a month.
The new products might be more eco-friendly, but they cost the U double the amount of the cost of the former petrol-based plastic products.
Conerly said he was excited about the new products and decided to absorb the extra cost of new utensils, plates and cups this semester.
“We’re not going to adjust food prices,” he said. Conerly said he is unsure if Chartwells will do so after the year ends.
Eco-Products is located in Boulder, Colorado and has an office in Bountiful, Utah. The company provides a biopolymer patented by Natureworks in the form of food containers. Annually renewable plant sources make up the utensils, cups, lids and straws, according to the company’s technical data sheet about the material.
The corn-based plastics used in the cafeteria serviceware are from domestic corn, which reduces the use of fossil fuels by 32 percent, according to the Eco-Products Web site.
Tim Vogeler, a senior in English, said he questioned the positive environmental impact that the new serviceware has.
“I don’t see (corn-based products) as a step toward environmental awareness,” Vogeler said. “It’s a false front. It looks that way, but when you get closer it’s not.”
Vogeler, who is participating in an Honors College think tank on sustainability and renewable energy in the West, said that the increased production of corn-based commodities drives up the prices of corn and corn flour in developing countries and deteriorates the soil and land base in the areas surrounding industrial corn farms.
Vogeler said a more environmentally friendly and ethical step would be to bring back the cheaper petrol-based products and increase the availability of recycling.
“Knowing what I do about the inputs that go into corn-based products and their impact on impoverished countries and the impact on the land, I would rather have petroleum-based plastic with better access to recycling,” he said. “Petroleum-based plastics are the most easily recycled.”
The new corn-based products at the U are compostable, but both companies recommend that commercial composting facilities decompose the corn-based plastics. Commercial facilities can ensure high temperatures for a faster and more thorough decomposition process. During the decomposition process, the plastic breaks down into smaller pieces of plastic and lactic acid. After as few as 45 days in commercial compost, the corn-based plastic decomposes to carbon dioxide, water and a soil-nutrient rich in lactic acid, which is not a byproduct of petrol-based plastics.