New reusable takeout containers distributed this month to about 4,000 students on AU meal plans will divert 2,571 pounds of waste from landfills.
 
Funded by a $24,750 grant from the District of Columbia Ditch the Disposables Award Program, the initiative puts the university one step closer to achieving zero waste by 2030.  
 
“AU is committed to acting on its zero-waste goals and to further reducing its impact on the environment,” says Megan Litke, director of sustainability. The O2GO reusable meal containers by OZZI, which can be used up to 300 times before being recycled themselves, will “help to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill, cut emissions from the creation and disposal of single-use items, and support Washington, DC, in its goal to reduce single-use food service items across the city,” she says. 
 
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food containers and packaging comprise more than 23 percent of the material in US landfills. 
 
Each semester, AU serves about 39,000 takeout meals from the Terrace Dining Room in the Mary Graydon Center. The new containers—which are also available to faculty, staff, and students not on meal plans for $5.99 through September and $7.99 after—will go a long way toward eliminating single-use plastics and containers, as called for by AU’s updated sustainability plan.
 
“It was inspiring to see AU take concrete action towards its zero-waste goal,” says Eryn Mikulicz, SIS/BA, ’26, a member of the Office of Sustainability’s EcoRep Program. “The containers are convenient for students, and they will significantly reduce waste from the dining room.”
 
Chartwells Higher Education, AU’s dining services partner, helped secure the grant.