Campus implements new sustainability efforts; more to come

Camille Reid - Perspectives Editor

At the beginning of this academic year, William Jewell College cafeteria introduced reusable to-go boxes. The green boxes are part of an eff ort to make William Jewell a more sustainable campus.

Bruce Reed, director of Dining Services, and Steve Anderson, director of Facilities Management and Procurement, spearheaded this change to reusable containers. According to Reed, 700 to-go boxes are in the Cafeteria, with about 300-400 boxes used daily.

The reusable to-go boxes can be used for a one-time fee of $2 (unless the box is lost or thrown away). The container is then returned to the Cafeteria and can be exchanged for either another to-go container or a wooden token that can be redeemed in the future for a container. 

"I have not used the to-go boxes yet, but it shows that William Jewell wants to be more environmentally conscious," Sarah Horn, junior, said.

The boxes used last year were biodegradable containers. Reed, however, noted that the used containers were deposited into regular trash bags, not the compostable bags found in the Cafeteria. Thus, the boxes were  not composted. 

"We were using 200 biodegradable containers a day and that equates to 44,000 containers going into the landfill just during the school  year," Reed said.

Some students find the new containers less convenient than the biodegradable boxes.

"I have not used them because you have to carry them around all day. And, they leak. So, some students have gotten their own lunch  boxes and used them in the Cafeteria, but it is nice that there are not any more white boxes in the trash across campus," Horne said.

Sustainability eff orts at William Jewell are the main focus for Reed and Anderson. "There is an inconvenience to it, somewhat, but you know, what it is accomplishing is keeping containers out of the landfi ll every year and this is a huge change," Reed said. 

The first step for sustainability at William Jewell was the use of composting. "I have been tracking [compost efforts] since mid-february. We have composted since then 21,000 pounds," Reed said. the use of composting marked the fi rst step in the College's sustainability efforts. "If we are composting, we do not need garbage disposals. It uses a lot of water and electricity. We now try to minimize the time for when [the garbage disposal] is on," Reed said. 

Before beginning work at William Jewell in November, Anderson worked for the City of Liberty as city planning director. His past  experience helped him to start up William Jewell's sustainability eff orts. "I was brought in mainly through Dr. [Andy] Pratt, [vicepresident for Religious Ministries and dean of the Chapel]. 

Reed and I work closely together as colleagues, and what I have learned coming in is that the first place to hit with this sustainability is the Dining Hall, Anderson said." 

There is a financial benefit as well as an ecological benefit to these sustainability efforts. "Tracking water usages and electricity sites, and improving recycling eff orts on campus are the focus for the upcoming  year," Anderson said.

Sustainability eff orts here at William Jewell are suggestions made by those on campus. "I think that the more that the students get  involved the better off we all are, and I say this because a lot of what we do is user-generated," Anderson said. 

Camille Reid can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.