Tray less dining has swept across college campuses throughout America and is gaining international attention. Tray less dining curtails food waste, promotes healthier eating habits through portion control, and reduces the amount of water and energy consumption used for washing the trays. Going tray less in dining facilities is one way to combat food waste and educate students about its environmental impact.

Project Clean Plate is a program used in conjunction with tray less dining which helps reduce food waste in our resident dining halls and creates awareness among students. Food waste is monitored at the disposal area and an estimate of wasted food is recorded and posted in the servery showing students week-by-week results. The posted results educate students about how much wasted food is thrown out on a daily basis which could be prevented.

Project Green Thumb is a recycling and composting program which educates individuals about properly separating and disposing food leftovers and materials that could be recycled or composted. The program is implemented using strategically placed signage, recycling bins, and environmental statistical data. Compostable materials are utilized on campus or donated to local communities. The program not only contributes to environmental awareness and conservation, but also contributes to reducing waste in landfills and trash disposal related costs.

Trim Trax is a food waste reduction program that is used to track, measure and reduce the amount of kitchen food waste in our facilities on campuses. It is designed to increase operational efficiencies and create awareness about reducing food waste and its environmental impact. This program has been extremely successful to date and is used on all campuses where Chartwells provides food service.