This year, Forbes Dining Hall has made another step towards sustainability: removing paper products, a change brought about by the adult Sustainability Committee, Sustainability Board, and Forbes Dining Hall. Unlike last year, when paper plates and bowls were readily available in the Dining Hall, this year the only paper items provided are coffee cups. Now, the sole way to bring food out of the Dining Hall is to check out a Green Container.
In an August 2026 memo to the Milton Community, Campus Services and Events Director Kim L. Smith stated that “Milton is focused on being environmentally conscious and prioritizing its dining spend…to support the food program, not disposables.” Smith cited “waste reduction,” “easier take-out,” and “educational opportunity” as the three main reasons community members should partake in the ReUse Program.
Milton Academy first began introducing reusable containers around COVID, inspired by other schools, but officially implemented the ReUse program in the 2024–2025 school year after a failed free-for-all system without a check-out element. Now, a student or faculty member can sign up for a ReUse Pass by scanning a QR code provided at the Dining Hall or selecting Milton Academy on the ReUse Pass website. Then, community members can check out a Green Container by scanning the container barcode and return it by placing it in a designated bin.
However, some community members have encountered difficulties with this process. Ella Cocchi ’29 expresses her frustration with signing up for the ReUse Pass: when she tried, she says, it took her “30 minutes to get [her] food” because “the QR code wasn’t loading, and [she] was not able to actually sign up for it.” As a result, she believes “it is imperative that we make the ReUse Pass sign up just a bit easier.” Outdoor Program Director Isabel Nakisher also agrees that “finding a more efficient way to check out the containers and return them…would make it less inconvenient.”
History teacher and Class II Dean Joshua Furst explained another consequence of the Green Containers: “students are using more [regular] plates in the Student Center…as opposed to grabbing the Green [Containers].” Nakisher also notes that some students “potentially [are] not checking out the containers.” Sustainability Board Member Ella Banning ’29 believes, however, that the consequences will “die out” once “people…get used to it.”
The “constant push and pull of convenience” could be the main issue behind all of these problems, according to Nakisher. She explains, “Sustainability often requires a little more work.” For Furst, the sustainability and cost-cutting benefits “[do] outweigh the inconvenience.” He added that it “seems irresponsible to spend that much money on paper products that get thrown away.” After all, as Sustainability Coordinator Linnea Engstrom puts it, “sustainability is not only about the health of the planet, but also the economic health of the school.” Sustainability Board Co-Head William Lara McCannon ’28 considers the paper product removal “very necessary.” He expanded, “what people don't realize is the environmental cost of making the paper plates…It's great that it can be composted, but it's made out of a tree originally, right? Plus it takes a lot of water to make paper, so that's also another environmental waste.”
Already, Nakisher sees “[Green Containers] around more in student hands.” In past years, according to Banning, the Sustainability Board has pushed for more compostable items in Forbes Dining Hall and spread awareness about using the compost bins properly. Engstrom explained that Forbes donates excess foods, provides vegetarian and vegan options daily, and implements extra initiatives during Earth Week.
In the future, Nakisher hopes to see the school address “portion sizing and food waste” to be more “conscious of how much [it’s] throwing away.” McCannon agreed that the “next big initiative would probably be to minimize food waste.” Nakisher also suggests that projects that prompt the community to think about “the choices [they] make in terms of what [they] eat,” such as a “Meatless Monday,” could be helpful, as they “can teach us how to make ethical choices as we move through our time at Milton and beyond.”
Banning emphasized how using Green Containers instead of paper products is “really small” and “super easy.” She said that everyone should “do their part” in the battle against climate change. To Nakisher, the small steps we take as a community are not only important in terms of reducing our footprint, but also in supporting the school’s mission: “[at] Milton, we should be teaching students and faculty how to make responsible decisions and how to be good humans to the world outside of this space….[and] the decision to only have the Green Containers…was important for the school to make in conjunction with its mission.”