Over a decade ago, during my final year there, my university removed their trays. I simply took one from the servery prior to the date of their removal, and continued to bring it with me and happily use it for myself. I regularly had people ask where I had found the tray, presumably hoping that they had been brought back.
I find it amusing that the article specifically mentions salad towards the end, as that was my reason for deciding to pilfer a tray. My regular meal was a small entree, a large plate of salad, and a drink. That is three items, but I only have two hands.
I bought some cafe trays off Amazon a few years back for organizational purposes. I've never ate from them though they are clearly fit for it - but they're just a great all-purpose space divider and stack well when unused. I even use them in the fridge to create some slide-out space without a drawer. Combine with some smaller tray divider systems and shelving and you can clear up a lot of small odds-and-ends piles without banishing them to a box.
The idea of having to transport a tray -- a large, bulky awkward item -- just so I can utilize it at the cafeteria seems more inconvenient than foregoing the benefits of having it while in the cafe.
There was one time when they were explicitly allowed to be used as paddles during the Cardboard Boat Race (otherwise the boat, including its means of propulsion, had to be made entirely from cardboard, PVA glue and duct tape).
Then they changed the rules to allow any safe means of propulsion ("safe" essentially meaning "not an outboard motor, you idiots, there will be people in the water"). Canoe paddles were the most common, but I also saw pedal power, paddle wheels powered by electric drills geared down through a bicycle transmission, and one boat towed by a scuba diver at the bottom of the river...
I find it amusing that the article specifically mentions salad towards the end, as that was my reason for deciding to pilfer a tray. My regular meal was a small entree, a large plate of salad, and a drink. That is three items, but I only have two hands.