As takeout containers pile up across college campuses, universities are struggling to balance sustainability goals with a growing culture of convenience.
“It’s all a nightmare,” said Carla Iansiti, Student Life and Engagement sustainability officer at Michigan State University. “The ever-growing retail and food pickup combinations — the Sparty’s, the Starbucks on campus, the Grubhub — that’s a culture shift.”
Students turned to takeout dining during the COVID-19 pandemic because dining halls closed or limited indoor seating, but many students kept those habits after restrictions ended, Iansiti said. The reliance on grab-and-go meals, mobile ordering and food delivery apps has led to more single-use containers ending up in trash bins instead of recycling streams, creating new challenges for schools like Michigan State University and the University of Michigan as they try to reduce waste without disrupting student routines.
According to MSU data, waste generation on campus fell sharply during the COVID-19 shutdowns, dropping from nearly 11.5 million pounds in 2019 to 8 million pounds in 2020, before rebounding to more than 14.5 million pounds in 2022 as campus activity resumed and then leveling off at around 13.5 million pounds in 2025.
This challenge extends beyond Michigan’s students. A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that college students increased their use of disposable packaging, delivery apps and takeout during the pandemic as they spent more time in dorm rooms and relied more heavily on delivered meals. Researchers found the surge in disposable products created additional environmental challenges by increasing plastic waste and reinforcing convenience-driven habits that made sustainability efforts harder to maintain.
Before the pandemic, MSU had already begun reducing waste through reusable dining ware, recycling programs and composting systems. But COVID-19 accelerated demand for disposable products as campuses prioritized sanitation and takeout dining.
“At one point, we couldn’t even find enough takeout ware to serve students,” Iansiti said. “We had to use whatever packaging we could get.”
Years later, the campus is still trying to recover. At MSU, officials said the explosion of single-use packaging has made sustainability efforts more complicated because packaging materials constantly change, making it difficult for recycling systems to keep up.
“Every time something comes through that’s different, I have to find a vendor that can take it,” Iansiti said. “It’s a moving target.”
Despite the challenges, universities are still pushing forward with waste reduction initiatives. At the University of Michigan, sustainability officials said they are trying to adapt to changing student habits while building systems that encourage better disposal practices.
Nicole Berg, sustainability program manager with U-M’s Office of Campus Sustainability and Innovation, said the university has seen a significant increase in takeout waste, especially in student-heavy spaces like libraries.
“When we did waste audits in our libraries, almost all of the waste came from takeout food,” Berg said.
In response, U-M expanded public compost bins in libraries, increased zero-waste event pilots with campus partners, including public compost bins in U-M libraries and Zero Waste Game Day, and introduced reusable takeout container programs in dining halls. The university also recently refreshed its campus-wide waste reduction goals, including a target of achieving a 50% waste diversion rate by 2030 with a 2% increase every year after. In 2025, the university diverted about 35% of campus waste from landfills.
Still, officials said convenience often outweighs sustainability concerns for students.
A University of Michigan student survey found that students overwhelmingly preferred reusable containers, but only if they were as convenient as disposable options.
“Students don’t really care if they cross the street and it’s off campus versus on campus,” said Alison Richardson, sustainability program manager at U-M. “It needs to be an integrated system.”
That challenge becomes more complicated because universities often share responsibility with surrounding cities and private food vendors. At U-M, sustainability staff have been working with Ann Arbor on a potential citywide reusable takeout container system that would allow students to return containers across campus and downtown.
Officials said isolated programs tend to fail because reusable systems only work when students can easily return containers wherever they finish eating.
Case studies from other universities have shown similar problems. Reusable programs can reduce waste, but only if students consistently return containers and campuses have enough infrastructure to support them.
At MSU, an earlier reusable container pilot failed before the pandemic, but officials are considering relaunching it.
“We keep trying little things like that, and someday something will stick,” Iansiti said.
Universities are also facing financial barriers. While reusable systems may reduce long-term waste, implementing them requires staffing, infrastructure and student participation.
“I’m the only sustainability officer at RHS,” Iansiti said, referring to MSU’s Residential and Hospitality Services division. “I would like to tackle the single-use plastics problem, and I’m having trouble.”
Even so, both universities have made measurable progress. MSU currently diverts roughly half of its campus waste away from landfills through recycling and composting systems, according to university data. So far in 2026, MSU’s diversion rate is 45%, which Iansiti said keeps the university on track despite the rise in single-use packaging.
Still, campus sustainability leaders said the biggest obstacle is behavior.
“People are getting more takeout items,” Iansiti said. “Dining in the dining halls is not as common as it used to be.”
For many students, convenience has become part of college life — ordering food between classes, eating in dorm rooms and carrying meals in clam shells across campus. Universities are now trying to redesign sustainability systems around those habits instead of expecting students to return to pre-pandemic dining patterns
“There’s no magic bullet,” Iansiti said. “We’re trying to simplify it and make it easy.”
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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
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