Smaller paper cups cut costs and waste

By Sana Yaklour     10/4/12 7:00pm

With a new year comes change. This year, Rice students returned to find that the paper cups in the serveries had been replaced with smaller, 8-ounce cups. 

Senior Business Director of Housing and Dining David McDonald said the cup size was reduced because of the increasing costs of food and paper products. 

The cost of a 12-ounce cup eight years ago is the same as the cost of an 8-ounce cup today, and food costs have been increasing by 3 percent every year, which is equivalent to a 20 percent increase over the past eight years, McDonald said. 

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"We have to watch every dime we spend," McDonald said. 

McDonald said in order to be able to allocate more money toward better quality of food for Rice students, some money needs to be cut from the money allocated to purchasing paper products. With the switch to 8-ounce cups, H&D now can allocate 4 cents per cup toward food quality and quantity, according to McDonald. 

H&D Manager of Communications Susann Glenn said there is a misconception that H&D is for-profit, but it is not. 

The size reduction of the paper cups is also a part of H&D's ongoing effort to be more green and to reduce its paper footprint, McDonald said. Previous moves toward this goal include dispensers for plastic utensils and paper napkins, which greatly reduced spillage and therefore waste of the utensils and napkins, according to McDonald. 

By reducing the sizes of the paper cups in the serveries, McDonald said he hopes to reduce the amount of trash produced by Rice that goes into landfills. 

Duncan College senior Abigail Corrington said she agrees with H&D's goal to become more sustainable but questions whether reducing the sizes of the paper cups in the serveries is really the right way to go about attaining that goal. 

"I appreciate what H&D is trying to achieve," Corrington said. "However, ... the switch from large paper cups to small ones ... may not be accomplishing their goal, as students seem to use twice the number of cups as they would if we still had the large ones in an attempt to get the same amount of their drink."

McDonald advises against using two cups to get the same amount of drink and instead hopes to encourage students to bring their own containers to take their drinks with them to promote sustainability. 

According to both Jones College food representative Pooja Reddy and Baker College food representative Chelsea Rodrigues, another reason H&D replaced the larger paper cups with smaller ones was to discourage students from using the cups to take food and dessert from the serveries. McDonald, however, disagrees. 

"Although it is true that some people take food in the cups with them, H&D made this decision [to reduce the sizes of paper cups] from a sustainable and financial standpoint," McDonald said. 

Glenn and McDonald said they wanted to remind students that they have a voice in H&D's affairs. 

"When students are concerned about something in the servery, they should contact us directly," Glenn said. "We want and encourage collaboration between the students and the chefs."

Wiess College freshman Alex Tran said he finds the smaller cups problematic even though he has never had the 12-ounce cups since it is his first year. 

"I like to get a paper cup for a drink after lunch and dinner while I'm doing work in my room, but the size means I end up finishing it too fast," Tran said. 

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