Paper plates, plastic utensils and plastic cups have become the norm in Cypress Lake Dining Room since the Fall 2024 semester. With the dishwasher being in the works of getting replaced for a longer than desired time, students have had to adapt to using disposable cutleries and tableware for all meals at the dining room.
Patrick Mould, the director of Retail Food and Beverage Services, spoke on getting the dishwasher replaced and the challenges faced in the process.
Mould stated, “The dishwasher’s been ordered, and we’re expecting it to be somewhere around the end of February when it will be installed and ready to go.”
In the previous semester, when the dishwasher continuously failed to operate, the dining room hoped to get it replaced before the Spring 2025 semester began.
“We were hoping that we were gonna be able to accomplish it over the break, but it just didn’t happen,” said Mould.
Mould shared that the current dishwasher had been around since the time when the Student Union was rebuilt in the spring of 2015. With its age, it is inevitable that the dishwasher has had to undergo multiple repair and maintenance works.
The increasing volume of students contributed to the pressing conditions of the dishwasher, as it is simply unable to accommodate the influx of dishes that need to be washed. Hence, it had to be replaced by a bigger and better dishwasher, one that would be able to better accommodate large volumes.
Furthermore, the costs of purchasing disposable cutleries and tableware became another pressing issue that pushed for a new dishwasher to be installed as quickly as possible.
Mould said, “Having to purchase all these disposables has been costing a lot of money as well so that’s another reason why we want to get the dishwasher back up and running, to avoid the cost associated with having to purchase the disposable.”
Unfortunately, due to challenges in the process of finding a suitable dishwasher, the situation remained stagnant for an extended period of time.
One of the biggest challenges faced was identifying a dishwasher that would be able to handle the large volume of students who patronize the dining room daily.
“It was a process of trying to identify the right dishwasher, we didn’t want to order one and it not be able to accommodate the need,” Mould explained.
He added, “Unfortunately trying to identify the right dishwasher, get it ordered, get it shipped, just took us a little longer than expected.”
After a tedious process of trying to find a suitable dishwasher, “The dishwasher has been ordered, it is being shipped,” Mould said.
When asked about his opinion on the current situation in the dining room with disposable cutleries and tableware, Mould said, “Ideally the disposables aren’t the way to go, I mean we want to serve people on plates and real glasses.”
“Hopefully students wouldn’t have to put up with it much longer,” he added.
Leigha Russ, a senior political science major, shared, “I feel that the plates and utensils they have now, although aesthetically not appealing as the former ones we’ve had, are way more sanitary and clean.”
Russ continued, “I believe that if we paid for the ‘real dining experience,’ then we should be able to receive it.”
Aaliyah Arvie is a sophomore majoring in speech pathology. She shared, “I would say the pro with using disposables is that they don’t have to worry about doing the dishes, we can just throw it away.”
While there have been a few advantages with the usage of disposable cutlery and tableware, a big concern with disposables is the amount of waste generated on a daily basis.
Arvie shared such a thought, she said, “The con is some things may not be disposed easily so it might take it a long time to throw away.”
Students have also reported facing issues with the plastic cups being too small, the plastic cutlery being too weak and the paper plates being too flimsy.
Hopefully, once the new dishwasher arrives, the Cypress Lake Dining Room will see massive improvements in the quality of their dishware and the overall dining experience.
Mould expressed, “We just appreciate the students being understanding about the situation and we’ve been working very hard to get it resolved as quickly as possible.”