I envision a future, where businesses don’t provide any single-use product anymore, no matter whether it’s plastic or paper. The restaurants would have the option to provide us with three options:
You either dine in (where you eat from ceramic/porcelain plates that get cleaned and theoretically used indefinitely)
You bring your own food storage container which could be made from glass, stainless steel, or plastic. Let’s compare LCA’s to find out which one is best!
The restaurant provides a container that is based on a deposit system.
A great initiative that is being applied in the majority of restaurants in my home city is Vytal. The service is free if you return the container within 14 days back to any restaurant that uses this service. The incentive for restaurants to use these containers over single-use materials is the money saved for purchasing bags, plates, cutlery, etc.
A big part of waste also comes from food deliveries, where the same system could be applied.
I would love to see a law being passed, which would force us all to be better organized and always carry food containers with us or make returnable free containers the norm in restaurants. #UnleashValues
If you want to know more about the deposit containers, that's their link.
Hey Christopher! I think your idea is great, but I think we should be a little bit more mindful when it comes to supporting startups! I think the government being in charge of standardized food containers that are reusable would actually be better and more beneficial to commercial enterprises.
This is so interesting! I think we have seen glimmers of this energy in Vancouver, but the initial friction can be rather significant...something I hear often is that people just cannot be bothered to remember their containers. I wonder if it was just a sudden switch, with no option to buy single use, if people would just start remembering as a function of the inconvenience of forgetting!
This is a great idea! I'm just wondering Chris, how's the uptake of using this service for restaurants and patrons? And how successful is it at attempting to solve this problem of disposable waste?
Thanks for sharing this resource Christopher! I especially love the idea of this system being applied to food delivery services where I feel there has been such an increase in single-use containers entering households. The best part is how it feels feasible that if one consistently orders from a food delivery service, the delivery person might be simply be able to swap the food for the previous order's containers.
I think the only caveat might be that the food container service would have to accept dirty containers. In my own experience with deposit-system containers, if they have to be returned cleaned, users don't want to wash them and instead let the containers become moldy so they have to be thrown out rather than reused.
Hi Christopher, thank you for sharing this! This sounds like an amazing strategy and one that doesn't take too much change to implement but can definitely go a long way, benefitting everyone in the long run. I really hope to see something like this here soon!
I think this is a great approach for the take-out industry, we can't even imagine how much disposable lunch boxes are used, and I think it would be a great improvement if our take-out industry also went for such an approach. This way people can also participate in environmental protection to better contribute to environmental protection.
Hi Christopher thanks for sharing! I absolutely agree with you that there are too many single-used plastic products in restaurants and deliveries. I hope a similar system like Vytal can also be used in Vancouver - and I think it's doable!
Hello Christopher, I 100% agree with you that there is no need for single use plastics. It baffles me that as a general population we know how terrible these are for the environment but companies keep on using them and production lines keep on producing them. Thank you so much for sharing Vytal. I think it is such a great idea to implement this type of framework into fast food delivery service. Do you know of any ideas like this that are taking place in Canada? I know that on a small scale some businesses such as earnest ice cream have a reusable pint policy, but i am curious as too if any local delivery apps are in the midst of partnering with companies like this.
Hey Christopher, thank you for showing us Vytal!! The takeout industry is massive and I can't even imagine how much plastic waste UberEats produces with cutlery and the bags, a re-usable packaging system would have huge effects :)
Thanks for sharing more about Vytal. It sounds like a great initiative and I think something similar can definitely be developed in Vancouver!
Hi Christopher,
Great post! It reminds me of what Korea used to do with delivery foods: they would deliver in reusable bowls and once you were done with the food you would leave it outside your door where the delivery person would then come pick it up again. Unfortunately, Korea has slowly phased out of this system but its reassuring to hear that other countries are shifting towards doing this. And I love that there's also an additional option of bringing your own containers!
this is a great idea having a deposit system would help reduce waste!
Thanks for sharing Christopher! I really love the deposit-free system of Vytal. UBC (and I think some cafes in Vancouver) does have a mugshare system where your pay a $5 deposit for a reusable cup, and you get your $5 back when you return it. But the few times I used it I got stares for people. I wish these kinds of system is normalized (and the ones who use deposable will get stares).
This is a great idea! I would love to have the option of a system like Vytal here...I always feel guilty ordering takeout and ending up with so much plastic waste!