Case Study: University of Southern California (USC) One Month In

In October 2023, USC launched its new partnership with USEFULL. USC now offers USEFULL’s plastic-free reusable takeout containers in all three residential dining halls, and in just the first month, USC has seen some big environmental savings!

We have been so impressed because USC students have already checked out – and re-checked out – USEFULL containers 16,373 times. That is a whopping 535 containers per day! And over 2,700 USC students are now active USEFULL users, with the number of users increasing throughout the first month. 

USC’s real-time impact can be found here!

USC’s savings

• 1,472 pounds of trash

• 41,225 gallons of water

• 4,628 pounds of emissions

USC’s one-year projections

• 9 tons of trash (including 6 tons of plastic removal!)

• 350,000 gallons of water (the same as showering every day for almost 600 years!)

• 27 tons of emissions (the same as driving from LA to New York 24 times!)

We’ve also found that USEFULL’s fair and friendly stick policy has led to a very low late and loss rate at USC. Just 2.5% of containers are returned late, and only a minuscule 0.1% of containers have been lost! The result? USC knows that their containers won’t end up in the trash – instead, those containers remain in circulation. Also, because of the quick turnaround period, USC needs fewer containers – meaning less storage and more efficient operations!

I was on campus during launch week and the feedback we got was fantastic! Students commented that it was great to have a more sustainable takeout option on campus, and that the containers looked higher-quality than disposable containers.

We are so excited about the enormous impact which USC has had in just the first month, and we know that this impact will continue to grow in the future. We can’t wait to see USC’s environmental savings in the next month and beyond!