Sustainability is word you hear a lot these days. And in a country where the average person generates about 4.3 pounds of waste per day, it’s no surprise that it’s becoming a growing concern. When dealing with so much individual waste, how do we even begin to make a change?

“It’s about creating a series of habits,” said the general manager of Marketplace West, Chris Anderson, “our goal is to divert as much away from the landfill as we can.”

Marketplace West and the other dining centers on campus have been doing their best to lead OSU into a more sustainable future. This has been done by changing how we approach trash in the first place. Whether it’s through making the shift to compostable materials or changing the system all together.

“Sustainable choices are often our best business choices,” said Chris.

The dining centers biggest push towards sustainability has been the Eco2Go program. The goal is to replace all to go containers with reusable plastic containers. Eco2Go containers are distributed through the dining centers and can be dropped off at various locations on campus. Without the option of disposable plates and containers, the dining centers are not only greatly decreasing their waste but also changing the way people think about being sustainable.

By Jacob Kienlen