DUSP event food survey, March 2008
Key findings
At Town Hall on March 11, 2008, students conducted a survey of the citizens of DUSP and their attitudes about food, food waste and measures that would reduce food waste in DUSP. This webpage gives the the key findings.
Would you like DUSP to generate less food-related waste at events?
Reusable tableware
Many people carry reusable water bottles. These are the only reusable containers in regular use.
What reusable tableware do you bring to events?
The main reasons for not bringing a reusable container for meals are the absence of a place to clean tableware and distaste for carrying a dirty container around. Both are identified as part of a bigger problem of the absence of a “culture of reusable tableware”.
Why don't you bring a reusable container to DUSP events?
- There's nowhere to clean tableware - 30 responses
- I don't like carrying dirty tableware around with me - 20
- I forget to bring it - 24
- There's nowhere to store dirty tableware - 15.
- It doesn't even cross my mind - 12
- I don't have a suitable container - 7
- I'm too busy to bring it to school - 6
- I only decide to go/find out about events at the last minute - 7
- Reusable stuff is inconvenient - 4
- Campus dining don't accept reusable containers - 3
- Reusable containers would make me stand out - 1
What changes would make it easier to bring a reusable food container?
Half of the respondents want DUSP to use reusable tableware and/ or real ceramic plates at events. There was also strong support for composting (43%) and for more incentives to use recyclables.
The free mugs are fairly successful.
What happened to the free mug that DUSP gave you?
Kitchens
Most people don’t use kitchens around DUSP. Greater access to kitchens would enable DUSPers to bring their own reusable tableware.
Do you use a kitchen anywhere around DUSP?
No specific kitchen is more frequently used than others.
Half the respondents use the bathroom sinks to wash their reusable containers. Most are not enthusiastic about this, but see it as their only option.
Food types
Nearly all respondents either support an increase in vegetarian food options or had no opinion.
Would you like to see more vegetarian options?
Among rankings of various kinds of food, the highest-ranked was "healthy food".
Respondents support a ban on bottled water at events, especially if water pitchers (filtered) were provided.
DUSP's favorite foods (selected comments in response to "Any favorite foods?")
- A little sick of Thai
- Anything but pizza
- Better vegetarian options
- Burritos
- Chinese
- Fruit
- German chocolate cake
- Indian (4x)
- less chicken!
- Meat
- Middle Eastern
- More dairy-free options
- No grilled meat
- Not wheat/pizza!
- Spicy Asian
- Spicy, healthy
- Sushi
- Thai
- Today is good. :)
Survey details
The survey instrument was printed on the back of single-sided discarded print jobs, and handed to everyone attending town hall. The response rate (53 surveys) was approximately 40% of the total number of attendees.
Survey respondents
Download the data
Download the complete tabulation of survey data, in csv format. The survey contains all the original comments added by respondents
Feedback
Comments? Criticisms? Want to contribute charts or other analysis? Mail neilson and fkh at mit dot edu.