Emory University has launched USEFULL’s plastic-free container system for takeout in the main student dining hall. With a significant campus-wide focus on environmental sustainability, Emory is ranked as a top-10 higher education institution in the Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges for 2024 and in three categories of AASHE’s Sustainable Campus Index rankings for 2023. Emory Campus Dining, a part of Emory Campus Life, partners with Bon Appetit Management Company to provide food service for the university.

“Emory’s commitment to sustainability matches our passion at USEFULL,” said Alison Rogers Cove, founder and CEO of USEFULL. “This upgrade in campus dining and takeout containers is an important step in that regard, and critical to keep plastics out of the food stream for both the environment and student health.”

With an inventory technology platform that enables check in and check out of takeout containers through an easy-to-use app and provides sustainability metrics at both an institutional and individual level, USEFULL delivers a proven 99% return rate of its stainless-steel reusable containers. Incredibly durable, USEFULL’s double-walled and vacuum-sealed stainless-steel containers offer years of reuse and provide an elevated takeout experience for users.

Emory University now provides USEFULL takeout containers at the Dobbs Common Table, Emory’s dining hall as well as the dining hall at Oxford College of Emory University. Bon Appetit estimates that USEFULL will supply 1,000 to-go cups and 1,000 containers per day. Prior to implementing USEFULL, Bon Appetit offered compostable containers for takeout at the dining hall.

Now students simply download the USEFULL app (for iOS and Android) to participate. Checking out containers is as simple as checking out a library book: students scan the QR code on the bottom of the container and go. The app allows students to monitor their personal impact and the Emory community can view campus-wide waste, emissions, and water reduction on USEFULL’s Impact Dashboard. 

USEFULL is working with its higher education partners to build a zero-waste takeout future, and create lasting, sustainable behavior change at college dining operations. With a goal of reducing waste, water, and emissions via green takeout solutions, USEFULL is helping campuses across the country eliminate single-use takeout.