Reuse wins: top findings show reuse beats single-use every time
Reuse Wins shows how a new reuse economy is emerging to replace the use of single-use products in food service.
Today, much of institutional and fast casual dining – and virtually all takeout and delivery – happens using disposable food-serviceware. And all those takeout containers, bags, boxes, condiment packets, plastic utensils, cold and hot cups and lids, and napkins add up. Nearly 1 trillion disposable food service products are used each year in the United States.
Unfortunately, all these disposables come with costs – costs to the environment from natural resource extraction to climate impacts to plastic pollution; costs to food-service businesses from the ongoing procurement and on-site waste management of disposables; and costs to governments and taxpayers from solid waste costs and litter cleanup. These costs also represent lost opportunities to create better systems for getting consumers what they want without all the waste.
But the good news is that there’s a new reuse economy emerging for food service that has the potential to completely disrupt our current disposable food-service paradigm and replace it with something better. Reuse Wins demonstrates that for the environment, for business and for investors, reuse beats single-use in every category.
In the report, we review the life-cycle studies comparing the environmental impacts of disposables versus reusables, the economic data available on savings to businesses, and we project the growth opportunities for the sector for investors and entrepreneurs.
See the press release here.
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The Report: Reuse Wins
The environmental, economic and business case for transitioning from single-use to reuse in food service.
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Executive Summary
Plastic pollution is growing exponentially, and businesses and policymakers are starting to take action. But trying to solve the problem by targeting plastics alone misses the point. Solving this requires a paradigm shift from single-use to reuse.
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Downloadable Assets
Downloadable slides and shareable resources making the case for why reuse wins, every single time.
Today’s “one-way, throw-away” food-service economy
Nearly 1 trillion individual pieces of disposable foodware and packaging used by US restaurants and food service businesses. This breaks down as 21% for on-site dining and 79% for take-out and delivery.
$24 billion spent by restaurants and food-service businesses on disposables each year.
Nearly 9 million tons equals the total weight of all the disposables used – equivalent to the weight of 25 Empire State Buildings.
$6 billion spent by businesses and city governments on solid waste management costs attributable to disposable food packaging.
Roughly 20 billion pieces of litter are from disposable food-service packaging. This creates significant climate pollution, energy use, water consumption, resource extraction, waste generation, litter generation and plastic pollution.
Tomorrow’s new reuse economy:
86% of disposables avoided through 100% of on-site dining being disposable-free and new reuse services for take-out and delivery expanded to all US cities and urban areas.
841 billion disposable food packaging items avoided meaning that 7.5 billion pounds of materials would be averted annually.
$5 billion saved by food service businesses from no longer procuring disposables for on-site dining.
$5.1 billion saved by businesses and city governments on solid waste management costs attributable to disposable food packaging.
17 billion pieces of litter prevented through new reuse systems. The reusable products (cups, containers, cutlery, bags, etc) have value – like a deposit, or a charge if not returned – that ensures these products make their way back into the system.
193,000 jobs created in the new reuse economy for food service.
Significantly reduced climate pollution, energy use, water consumption, resource extraction, waste generation, litter generation and plastic pollution.
The New Reuse Economy: Reuse for on-site dining
Whether you’re dining at McDonald’s or a trendy new fast casual eatery, disposables for on-site fast-food dining are the norm. This is because a prevailing misconception is that disposables are cheaper than reusables.
But this argument doesn’t hold up in practice. The data from hundreds of case studies - shows that making the switch from single-use to reuse for on-site dining always ends up saving money - 100% of the time. And that’s after accounting for any capital costs for purchasing or leasing additional dishwasher capacity and any added labor costs.
The New Reuse Economy: Reuse for take-out and delivery
With take-out and delivery, it might seem like the only options are between disposable paper or plastic, but scores of new businesses are emerging to offer reuse B to B (to C) services and solutions to hack all this take-out packaging waste. Their services are easy to use, accessible, affordable, fun and convenient, and they are revolutionizing how businesses do take-out by offering a circular system for collection, washing and sanitizing, and restocking reusable food-serviceware. Food-service businesses can contract with these “reuse service-providers” for the amount and types of reusable to-go ware they desire.
Key environmental take-aways
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(Climate, water, land use, waste, pollution, etc.). Reusables always hit a break-even point where they outperform the disposables, and the benefits to the environment accrue with each additional use past that point.
The break even points range from 2-122 times. With materials like steel, glass and ceramics, they can be used thousands of times.
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Over their life-cycle, reusables have lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to disposable alternatives. For example, the CO2 impacts of disposable paper, plastic, and bioplastics are 3 to 10 times greater than reusable ceramic, stainless steel and glass cups.
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…when using commercial dishwashers that are highly efficient. The disposables have a greater water consumption footprint due to all the upstream production impacts than reusables.
Key take-aways for restaurants and food-service providers:
Making the switch from single-use to reuse for on-site dining always ends up saving money - 100% of the time. And that’s after accounting for any capital costs for purchasing or leasing additional dishwasher capacity and any added labor costs.
Nearly all restaurants that have transitioned to reusables have done it without changing their dishwashing set-up or increasing labor costs.
Reusables increase customer and employee satisfaction, generate valuable customer data, build brand loyalty and create opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors to create and scale the new reuse economy.
Key take-aways for community leaders and government:
Reuse services create infrastructure and jobs in the community that cannot be outsourced. Disposables create jobs in other locales where natural resources are mined, and products are manufactured and disposed.
Reusable foodware reduces litter and waste management costs for local businesses and government and eliminates litter on streets and in local waterways.
Reuse infrastructure helps to achieve zero waste and climate goals.