Since this semester’s change to All-You-Care-To-Eat dining at the Usdan University Center’s Marketplace, diners have been required to eat all meals inside the second-floor dining rooms. Under a new plan, “To Go” carryout containers for students eating on the run would return, and students would also be permitted to carry meals downstairs or outside.

“Now you’ll be able to get food upstairs in the Marketplace and walk down to sit with your friend who got sushi from the Café,” said Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Dining Committee Chair Becky Weiss ’10.

Bon Appétit Resident District Manager Delmar Crim said that the decision to limit students to the dining rooms was a means of controlling the food service in order to deliver a high-quality product, arguing that customers can’t take food outside of a buffet restaurant.

Weiss said that students aren’t trying to take home large amounts of food, but are simply seeking convenience.

“We explained to Bon Appétit that students don’t want to -go options to take extra food for their friends,” she said. “They’re going to grab the food to go and go to class or back to their room to do work.”

The proposed “To Go” plan would charge students a small fee on top of their meal or points swipe for an environmentally-friendly carryout container. Weiss said that ideally the containers would be included in the cost of a meal, but will probably carry a charge of less than one extra dollar.

The plan is awaiting approval by the higher-ups at Bon Appétit, but Crim, who has worked with the Dining Committee on the plan, isn’t sure it will pass.

“It’s going to be a difficult sell to my boss,” Crim said. “Food costs are way up, because students are wasting a lot—I mean a lot—of food.”

Crim says that while attendance at meals has doubled since the All-You-Care-To-Eat program was introduced, the amount of food waste has dramatically increased since lunch was changed from an à la carte, pay-per-item system.

“Go upstairs at a meal and look at the amount of waste,” Crim said. “The other day I saw a kid throwing out a full plate of Mongolian grille, completely untouched, and a full piece of pizza, completely untouched. I understand that he paid for it with his meal swipe, but there’s no reason to take all that food if you’re not going to eat it.”

Crim also said managers have combed through the trash and found dozens of discarded serving items, especially cups. Dishes and cutlery have also disappeared, and replacing them has been expensive.

Weiss thinks to-go containers would minimize the problem.

“One problem of not offering to-go containers is that Bon Appétit has to keep replacing plates, utensils and cups because students are walking out with them, and that’s really expensive,” she said.

Chair of the WSA Student Affairs Committee Mike Pernick ’10 thinks that Bon Appétit’s insistence on charging extra for carryout containers is a step in the right direction, but not a good solution.

“The ability to take food to go at no additional cost is the fundamental right of every student,” he said. “To-go containers may cost Bon Appétit a few cents, but students who take food to go will take significantly less food.”

Pernick also argued that the cost of the containers would be more than offset by avoiding the cost of cleaning trays, plates, cups and utensils.

If the plan goes through, Weiss thinks it will offer a better value to students.

“Usdan wasn’t designed explicitly for All-You-Care-To-Eat dining, it was originally intended for lunches based on points,” she said. “It has nice outdoor spaces that have been off-limits to students eating in the Marketplace. Now there will be access to downstairs and outside.”

Crim emphasized that students need to reconsider the amount of food they are taking while dining at the Marketplace.

“Students have to realize that we buy very high quality produce and meat, and that isn’t cheap, and it’s getting thrown away,” he said. “We can’t afford this waste. Students can’t afford this waste.”

Thaddeus Ruzicka ’08 wondered if waste may be an inevitable by-product of the switch to All-You-Care-To-Eat dining.

“It makes sense that the amount of food waste has gone up with the All-You-Care-To-Eat program, because students are no longer stuck with the choice they make,” he said. “Now that people can sample as opposed to going for broke on one dish, there’s obviously going to be more thrown out.”