Students looking to discreetly dispose of their midnight snacks from Wiseguy Pizza are struggling to find a bin with space.
The five food vendors in District House have been gradually opening since December, now with only Chik-fil-a and Sol Mexican Grill still unopened. As more vendors have opened, customers said they need more garbage cans than are currently available in the food court area.
University spokesman Brett Zongker said vendors and administrators will install larger trash cans and a pizza box receptacle “in the coming weeks.”
“In advance of the opening of the building, the University expanded its housekeeping resources to accommodate this new building and retail space,” Zongker said.
In advance of the opening of the building, the University expanded its housekeeping resources to accommodate this new building and retail space.
He added that trash is removed several times each day and on-site staff are around dining areas on campus for “other urgent issues,” like spills.
“The University anticipated that the new vendors in District House would be highly popular with our students as well as the surrounding community, and we are pleased that the new space has been embraced by the GW community,” Zongker said.
Three of the five vendors in District House opened earlier this academic year after months of delays.
More housekeeping is likely to be added when the remaining two vendors are open, Zongker said.
Residence Hall Association President Ali Belinkie said the Division of Operations monitors how frequently trash needs to be collected and how many trash cans they need and then adjusts accordingly.
“It went from having no restaurants to having one restaurant to multiple restaurants,” Belinkie said. “They anticipated it being popular, and it has been. I don’t think they could have guessed the number of people that would go there.”
She added that when Chick-fil-A opens and customer traffic goes up, GW may add one or two more staff members to take out the bins more frequently during peak lunch and dinner hours.
“B1 and B2 trash is taken out multiple times a day, whereas in the residential levels the trash room is cleaned out every weekday,” Belinkie said.
If students are concerned that trash is building up, they should definitely put in a FIXit for it.
While individual bedrooms upstairs are self-regulated by students, affinity common room spaces are cleaned by the janitorial staff once a week, she said.
Belinkie added that while students are responsible for taking out their own garbage, they can help keep overflowing trash in common spaces and dining areas under control by alerting maintenance staff.
“If students are concerned that trash is building up, they should definitely put in a FIXit for it,” Belinkie said. “If they put in a FIXit, the trash will be taken out immediately.”
