Say goodbye to disposable bamboo chopsticks and hello to reusable melamine at the Pomona College dining halls. The EcoReps — a student-run sustainability group at Pomona — led a successful charge to implement these new utensils at Frank, Frary and Oldenborg starting Friday, Feb. 2.
Head EcoReps Diana Castellanos PO ’24 and Sydney Tai PO ’26 were at the head of the movement, obtaining funding for the project through the President’s Sustainability Fund. The fund is administered annually by the President’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability, which was initially established at Pomona in 2006.
Each year, the committee allots up to $7,500 for student campus sustainability projects. According to their website, these projects must be centered around “infrastructural or operational changes instead of outreach or education-focused efforts.”
Students interested in using part of the funds for their projects must be accepted through an application process that requires them to submit details about the project, describe its potential benefits and provide letters of support.
Castellanos and Tai explained that in their application they outlined what they believed to be the importance of replacing disposable chopsticks at Pomona for sustainability.
“The weekly usage of this single-use item contributes cumulatively to Pomona’s environmental footprint and supports a highly artificial manufacturing process that releases toxic pollutants and carbon emissions into the atmosphere,” their application stated.
They also dove into the important cultural and usability aspects tied to chopstick use.
“The lack of chopsticks as an everyday option limits cultural options for students who prefer chopsticks over other utensils,” the application stated.
Castellanos explained that, while the disposable bamboo chopsticks — which are still used in a majority of 5C dining halls — may appear harmless, they have tangible detriments.
“You think, ‘oh, it’s just one chopstick a week,’”Castellanos said. “But when thousands of people do it and you do this for weeks on end, it obviously adds up. And even though it is a wood product that should be able to go into compost, it adds very little value after all that bleaching.”
In addition to their negative environmental effect, Zurayna Fatima PZ ’27 expressed facing a number of other issues with the bamboo chopsticks.
“I feel like they always break apart in the wrong way and there’s one chunk bothering me when I’m eating,” Fatima said. “I feel like these [new reusable] ones don’t have that problem.”
The new chopsticks are made out of melamine, an organic compound commonly used in plastic products. According to Tai, the EcoReps decided on this material after researching the life cycle of various kinds of chopsticks, including metal and other kinds of plastic.
“Melamine was the [material] that we settled on because it was both cost-effective and also durable,” Tai said.
While working on the project, Castellanos and Tai reached out to Miguel Ruvalcaba, senior director for Dining Services at Harvey Mudd College’s Hoch-Shanahan Dining Commons. Since reusable melamine chopsticks have been available at the Hoch for years, Ruvalcaba was able to give Castellanos and Tai feedback that they incorporated into their application.
“Mr. Ruvalcaba explained that the implementation of [reusable] chopsticks at the dining hall has been heavily influenced by student feedback,” the application stated. “After initially piloting stainless steel chopsticks, students complained that they could ‘taste the metal.’ [Upon] receiving this feedback, the team made the switch to melamine and has been using these chopsticks for years.”
In the application process, Castellanos and Tai also asked the Pomona student body for their perspectives through a student survey. They found respondents at the Walker Flea Market.
“We surveyed over 100 students and got their feedback on what type of chopsticks they would want, whether they actually want them, things like that,” Castellanos said.
Overall, students are responding well to the melamine material, both for its sustainability and its aesthetics.
“I think it’s really practical,” Stanislav Vakulenko PO ’27 said. “It’s really nice that they’re long and nice to hold. They look pretty stylish. And it’s good for the environment as well.”
Castellanos and Tai have a final request for those who frequently reach for a pair of chopsticks at the Pomona dining halls: Please don’t steal them.
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