Just this year a disturbance was created in the cafeteria to many students and teachers alike. The cafeteria got rid of their big trays and replaced them with just small foam trays. There are many reasons these can cause problems.

One reason is that with the weight of the food and milk carton, the trays can become quite heavy. The foam trays are not strong enough to support all that weight of the food! Another problem is that  with them the trash cans seem to overflow faster. It is annoying when food and wrappers are constantly falling out of them. Finally, there just isn’t as much room. Trying to balance milk, celery, chips and a chicken patty isn’t as easy as it is on plastic trays.

Some may argue that using foam trays cut down on waste, but if looked at it in the long run, they really don’t. Though they may not be using water to clean the trays, they take up space in landfills. Also, if students get a double serving they put another tray under the other and that helps cause waste too.

A negative flame has been lit inside ninth graders. As a whole, the ninth grade class does not enjoy the foam tray idea.

“I don’t think the new lunch trays are as convenient for us,” ninth grader Tyler Stewart said. “You can’t fit as much on the small trays,”

“You can’t get more than a few items without stacking them. Also, they aren’t stable,” ninth grader Zack Miller said.

Keeping the plastic trays would have made little or no difference. The only thing the foam trays do is make getting lunch more of a struggle for kids and teachers.