Every Aramark cafeteria transaction at St. Thomas comes with a receipt, whether or not anyone asks for it. Every apple, bagel and cheeseburger comes with a small slip of paper that are thrown away. Both registers in the GMH cafeteria have bins almost exclusively for receipts. Garbage bags are filled on a daily basis.
Some think the constant stream of wasted paper is unnecessary.
Frida Guerrero, the president of Students for Sustainability, said the excess receipts are not the only way the cafeteria is being wasteful.
“They can do a lot of things to reduce waste in a general way,” said Guerrero. “Plastic cups, Styrofoam plates, receipts—they should use more recyclable and reusable materials.”
Students have complained about STU cafeteria’s waste before. Rumours circulated that using these particular receipt printers wasn’t up to the Fredericton Aramark but by managers from some distant and unreachable corporate office.
Aramark’s cafeteria manager Wyn Gruffyd said this isn’t true.
“We can stop the receipts, but the problem is that it makes the cashier process longer.”
He describes it a, “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. Each receipt has to be individually ordered not to print which takes a few more keystrokes.
Gruffyd said even though a few more keystrokes may not seem like much on their own, they would jam the often crowded lines even further.
“Then our customers suffer, and we don’t want that.”
Second year student Lexia Dorr said she thinks receipts should only be printed if asked for.
“I think it’s better to wait in line a little longer compared to accumulating lots of waste that is unhealthy for the environment.”
For now, Aramark will continue to print excessive receipts.
Guerrero hopes to use her position at Students for Sustainability to set up meetings with the cafeteria to discuss these issues.
