Trash has occasionally built up around the grassy area where the food trucks park, and this may be due to improper waste management by the vendors, according to a UOG official.

Ann Leon Guerrero, auxiliary services director, said the food truck vendor contract requires that they must provide their own trash receptacles and are responsible for their disposal.

Ethan Cruz from Teppan, a popular food truck among students, said he noticed the trash build-up in the 55-gallon bins around the area and didn’t know what to do or how to properly dispose of the trash.

“I wasn’t aware,” Cruz said. “But now that we are, we will take care of that.”

Along with providing trash receptacles and encouraging students to throw away their trash, the vendors are also looking into bringing bins for recycling plastic bottles.

“We are very open to helping out the school and the staff,” Cruz said.

Leon Guerrero also discussed the issue of trash not being disposed of properly into the 55-gallon bins already in the area and left on the ground.

“The students are not disposing trash in the containers,” Leon Guerrero said. “It’s disappointing and it’s kind of hard for the vendors to monitor that, especially when the kids eat under the tree away from the vendors.”

According to Frank Troy, building maintenance supervisor, the maintenance crew picks up the trash that is thrown on the ground and recently collected a full trash bag.

“Take the initiative and put it in the trash can,” encourages Leon Guerrero.

According to Troy, the 55-gallon drums are usually emptied on the weekends because before the food trucks arrived in the center courtyard this semester, they were not filled as often as other trashcans on campus, which are emptied twice a day.

“Now with the food trucks set up there, [the area] is accumulating more trash,” said Troy.

Troy offered the food vendors to dispose of their trash in the dumpsters at the Maintenance Compound at UOG.