Campus food carts may go green with help from PEG and the UA

Penn is taking its initiative to help the environment beyond the dining halls to the food trucks on campus.

The Undergraduate Assembly is working with the Penn Environmental Group to encourage food trucks to use environmentally-friendly containers rather than Styrofoam.

"Styrofoam containers are not only more expensive for food truck owners, but also bad for the environment," said College sophomore and UA Sustainability, Safety and Facilities Committee chairman Alec Webley.

PEG compiled a questionnaire which will be distributed by the end of the month to food truck owners. A team made up of the group's members will then follow up based on their answers.

The UA hopes to see the Styrofoam containers replaced by the end of the semester, Webley said.

Webley, a self-proclaimed "eternal optimist" said, "I believe that once PEG and UA have a chance to sit down with and talk to the food-truck owners on campus about the issue, they will jump at the chance to make the change."

"There is a possibility that PEG will put their logo on trucks that do decide to go green as an incentive," said College junior Courtney Kozlowski, a former Daily Pennsylvanian staff member and the PEG member heading up the initiative. "Going green is trendy these days, and food trucks that go green are likely to attract more customers."

Business Services spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger also expressed support for the students' efforts.

"It's nice to see students become more environmentally conscious," she said.

According to director of Dining Services Laurie Cousart, other food providers on campus have been very receptive to requests for more environmentally-friendly behavior. Au Bon Pain, for example, no longer uses plastic bags and has replaced plastic soup containers with biodegradable ones.

"Businesses are very responsive to consumer demand," Cousart said.

The owner of the Steak Queen food truck agreed.

"We have to do what the customer wants," he said. "If the customers are concerned about the environment and want to be served in paper-based containers, then we will buy these containers even if they cost more. But if customers do not want these containers, then we will not buy or use them."

College freshman Greg Kauffman said whether the switch to biodegradable containers has a positive effect on his food truck meals depends on their quality. "If they are flimsier than Styrofoam containers, it doesn't make sense to make the switch," he said.

Kauffman added that switching over to recyclable materials is only one part of the solution to the problem of waste.

"Recycling cans have to be readily available," he said. "Otherwise, people will just throw away the containers in the nearest trash bin and completely defeat the original purpose of the move from plastic to biodegradable containers."

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