I had a random conversation with someone in an elevator the other day, about Earth Day. I said that in my opinion, it is one of the most ironic holidays that we have on our calendar. Sure it is a beautiful thing to celebrate how amazing and glorious the Earth really is…but shouldn’t we be doing this on a daily basis.

The conversation made me think back to my days in the cafeteria and reflect on Drexel’s take on Earth Day.  There was this concept called “Trayless Tuesdays”. In theory, the concept wasn’t bad. The use of trays was not permitted, so a student was only able to carry plates by hand, back to a table.  And for most students, the number of plates carried by hand was far less than what would fit on a tray. So the idea behind the madness was that less food would be wasted.

 Not only were the trays taken away, but the standard glass plates were also removed. In their place were plastic plates – the “disposable” kind that can actually be recycled.  So these plates were very small. The average size of a majority of the plates was equivalent to the diameter of a hamburger. Imagine trying to carry two of these along with a paper cup filled with your drink. The task was virtually impossible as I remember.

Now, although the glass plates hold more food than the plastic plates, and the tray enables more food to be held…both tray and glass plate are recycled (washed and reused). Was the plastic plate? No! No it was not. Everything was thrown away.  So imagine several thousand plastic plates being disposed, on Earth Day. Hypocritical? Just a bit…  I don’t know about what Drexel does for Earth Day nowadays, but I can honestly say all of its “green” initiatives taken over the past few years have made far more sense than all previous Earth Day approaches.