For many, a busy day on campus includes stopping by the food court for a quick bite. Yet whether it’s just for lunch or a coffee between classes, nearly every option comes packaged with single-use plastic.
There are tons of lids, cups, straws, utensils and containers thrown away on campus every single day. Multiply that by an entire school year with 19,000 students, and the waste quickly becomes staggering — far more than a university committed to sustainability should feel comfortable producing.
UM has a real opportunity to lead in reducing plastics, just as other universities already have. Tulane, Stony Brook and UC Berkeley, ranked the top three universities in the AASHE Sustainable Campus Index for sustainable dining, have proven that plastic-free dining is possible.
They’ve replaced disposables with reusable or compostable alternatives, and use sophisticated software to monitor their waste stream, which generates insights that reduce more waste. Notably, UC Berkeley adopted a campus-wide policy to eliminate all non-essential single-use plastics by 2025 and UM should take similar steps.
With all these advancements, plastic persists in our food court. The UM Roadmap to Plastic-Free ’Canes, composed and managed by ECO Agency, provides part of the explanation.
National retail chains like Panda Express and Subway operate under franchise requirements, making it difficult for UM to require plastic-free standards without the state passing legislation. The city can play a critical role — Coral Gables has already passed bans on plastic bags and styrofoam, catalyzing the removal of these items on campus. But the state of Florida has pre-empted these laws in both cases. This means that if we want limitations that stick, they need to come from the state.
The roadmap also highlights a critical challenge: Miami-Dade does not have an industrial composting facility. Many compostable alternatives require high heat to break down, so even if UM switched to compostable plastics for packaging and utensils, much of it still will not break down.
When it comes to promoting sustainability in the food court, UM’s long-time contracted dining partner Chartwells works together with the auxiliary department and the office of Green U. They want to be green, but they are also pragmatic.
“My goal is not to save money, it’s to be cost neutral when implementing a new program that is a green initiative,” said Ana Alvarez, assistant vice president of UM Auxiliary Services. “Over the years, we have taken initiative to reduce single use plastics substantially, but there will continue to be barriers for it all to be completely abolished.”
Ana Alvarez has been working for the Auxiliary department for 23 years, and she has been part of the effort to remove styrofoam and plastic bags on campus. When it comes to plastic utensils in the food court, she emphasizes that UM dining is open-minded.
“We have worked with students over the years on plastic utensil alternatives. The issue is students don’t follow through or they graduate without educating or informing a successor to finish out the project,” Alvarez said. “Currently, we are planning on introducing a hybrid model of metal reusable utensils for dining in and plastics for take-out because we have the ability to properly clean reusable utensils in the food court.”
This issue is compounded by a county-wide waste crisis. Since Miami-Dade’s waste-to-energy incinerator burned down in 2023, local landfills have rapidly reached capacity. As a temporary fix, the county is now shipping trash to landfills in Central Florida at significant financial and environmental cost.
Reducing plastic waste on campus isn’t just about the university image, it directly affects the region UM calls home.
“I think with more restaurants making initiatives to cut down on plastic use the university should follow these progressive steps and implement sustainable alternatives, especially because we have such proximity to a natural resource, like the lake and river system” said Arianna Helmer, orientation leader and waste diversion chair of student government ECO Agency. “I largely observe plastic lids and straws discarded on the walkway and ending up near the grassy steps by the lake.”
Still, a zero-waste food court remains within reach. The UM is not starting from zero; in fact, it’s already a leader, holding an impressive Gold rating from the AASHE — the second-highest rating after Platinum.
Data from Green U’s FY25 waste diversion efforts shows that 31,134 pounds of used cooking oil have been recycled into biodiesel and beauty products, 17,831 pounds of food have been donated to the Miami Rescue Mission, and over 23,000 bottles and cans have been recycled at the food court’s reverse vending machine (RVM).
According to Teddy Lhoutellier, sustainability director of Green U, the campus-wide food waste program — a partnership with composting company Compost for Life—has diverted 243,907 pounds of food waste. According to statistics from Compost for Life’s tracking system, this is equivalent to 241,514 miles offset, 6.4 million smartphones charged, and 10,955 gallons of gasoline offset.
Student leadership is stepping up as well. UM’s Student Government ECO Agency encourages students to carry reusable utensils and frequently hosts food sustainability events.
This October’s Fair Food Fair featured organizations focused on composting, food recovery and sustainable consumption, helping students understand both the problem and their role in its solution.
“We are hoping to mainstream the mobile reusable utensils and help student organizations fund alternatives to single use plastics,” said Margaret Todd, president of ECO Agency. “It’s such an easy alternative to take on and we want to assist in any way we can.”
But despite progress, single-use plastic remains a constant presence in the food court waste stream for now.
This persistence of waste, despite student efforts, is exactly why the University’s institutional leadership is so critical. As the second-largest employer in Miami-Dade County, UM has both the responsibility and the capacity to take steps in waste reduction as other universities are pioneering sustainable dining on campus. With the University’s centennial anniversary, this is an opportunity to define the next hundred years that will benefit both the campus and the community.
A zero-waste food court is not only possible, but it is the kind of bold, forward-looking step that a University of Miami’s stature should be leading.