This semester Sodexo has introduced new re-useable lunch bags for the On-The-Go as part of Plymouth State’s effort to go green. The new bags were brought on because Sodexo received “several comments about how many bags were being given out,” Sodexo General Manager Chris Mungeon said. On an average day, the On-The-Go window serves 900 students, 4,500 per week. At four cents a bag, that’s only $180 per week. However, it was the amount of trash that prompted the change. In order to obtain one of the re useable bags, all a student has to do is go up to the On-The-Go window and ask. The student simply has to sign a form saying that they will commit to using the bag throughout the year. Students can bring their bags up to the On-The-Go, and they will be filled up just like a paper bag would. “We were going to give out the re-useable bags the first week of school at the window and ask students to use them the rest of the year,” Mungeon said. “But we realize that it wasn’t a realistic goal.”
“If you don’t really care about the sustainability stuff, you might not want to carry it around, but if you really care, you would want something like that,” Mungeon said.
Sodexo has purchased around 300 bags, which are available to any student who wants one. The bags are insulated and leak proof, and the students who use them do not have to give them back at the end of the year. “They’re great,” Grafton Residence Director Dom Medaglia-Brown said. “I like them much more than the paper ones. I can carry it around for a bit, not worry about eating right away.”
“I think they’ll be good to bring to class,” sophomore Josh Cooley said. “You won’t be making all sorts of crunching noise like with the paper bags.”
The bags are also cost effective when used many times, though the savings don’t add up to much. “The bags will save money to a point, but there are 300 bags, so if the students use the bags every day the savings are $2,000 per year, so the money saved is minimal,” Mungeon said.
The plan for the lunch bags isn’t clear and is running on a trial basis so far, as there has not been an overwhelming response.
Though the program hasn’t caught on yet, there are some plans for the future. “The promotion is still going on, so we can’t really consider it a success yet.” Mungeon said. “We’ll keep going until we run out, and if it proves to be successful, we may order some in a different color for next semester.”