Notice on Recyclable Cups, Lids, and Utensils in Columbia Dining Halls
Columbia Dining transitions its compostable flatware, lids, and cold cups to recyclable plastic.
Beginning in Fall 2025, all single-use utensils, lids and cold cups available in Dining halls will be made from recyclable plastic and should be disposed of in the blue (Metal, Glass, Plastic, and Cartons) recycling bins.
Paper products (plates, boats, bowls coffee cups, straws and napkins) will remain compostable.
Your Questions, Answered
In 2018, Columbia Dining began using flatware and cups made from Polylactic Acid (PLA) plastic: a biodegradable thermoplastic derived from renewable resources. This effort was made to allow cups and utensils to be composted along with food waste, in line with our waste and overall sustainability goals. These items were collected from the dining halls along with organics for composting by our waste vendor.
Current industry research shows that the use of bioplastics like PLA can be complicated because PLA is biodegradable only under the correct conditions.
A major question is whether the waste disposal facilities are correctly discerning biodegradable plastics from conventional plastics or non-organic compostable materials. If not, items such as utensils and cups are sorted out of the compost stream and emptied into landfills, where they take significantly longer to decompose.
Given the cost of bioplastics, we are pausing the purchase of these items until a full analysis of the process and carbon impact can be completed by the waste management facility operator.
Our Sustainability and Waste Management teams have had discussions with peers across New York City who are facing the same logistical challenge.
Columbia Dining is continuing to follow shifts and evolution in industry practices to inform important actions like this one. We remain committed to sustainability and to maximizing product circularity. We are working with peers in the industry, actively researching new composting options, as well as conducting research on other ways to improve efficiencies in our operations.
New recycling bins will be available in all Dining halls. We ask that you do your part by sorting recyclables from compost: place your cutlery, cold beverage cups, and lids in the blue recycling bins, and all other food service and food scraps in the trash cans.
Columbia Dining serves more than 10,000 meals a day across its three residential dining locations. The only full-service dish room available to Columbia Dining is in John Jay dining hall. This is the only location where reusable china is feasible.