You Can't Solve a Plastic Problem with More Plastic
Surprise! You Can’t Solve a Plastic Problem with More Plastic. Sounds obvious, right?
I feel silly even typing the words because, of course! Why would anyone think you could? We’ve established that plastic is terrible for the environment - why would we make more in an effort to eliminate single use?
The crazy thing is - our competitors think exactly that. Believe it or not, the world of reuse is chock full of plastic. Thicker, more durable plastic than traditional single use, sure. But that makes the issue even worse…why? Because over 70% of these containers are mistaken for trash, thrown away and never actually reused. So, there’s more plastic in the landfill and it’s more durable than ever! The irony is incredible.
Shocked? I was. But, the more I heard from different colleges and universities, the more the reality sunk in. Colleges have tried to “do the right thing” by implementing plastic reusable solutions but unfortunately, they were misguided. What seemed like a silver bullet in terms of reuse turned out to be yet another case of greenwashing.
Colleges that have implemented a plastic reusable solution have seen return rates on average of less than 30%. Why is that, I wondered? Well, turns out there are a few issues at play.
The green plastic containers do not have any trackability and therefore no accountability on the student’s end. Even for the schools who charge a fee for use, usually the fee is so minimal that the students don’t really care if their plastic takeout box goes missing or is thrown away. Secondly, the containers themselves so closely resemble traditional single use that the students simply throw them away in the trash. Behaviors are really difficult to change in the first place and the students don’t see the value in a cheap, plastic box.
In addition, these green takeout boxes have less than a year of washes in them. Yep - they only last for 300 uses in a commercial washer. Then, it’s up to the campus to gather them up and recycle them at the end of life, which is a lot of added work that is often difficult to implement - so you can imagine where the broken down containers end up at the end of the semester.
Real, lasting change requires a little more thought and planning. That’s why we created USEFULL, the tech-enabled, stainless steel container system. Because we really believe that you cannot fix a plastic problem by creating more plastic. Take a minute and see how we compare side by side:
Our container system is simple - it works like checking out a library book. After the rental period is complete, students simply return the container to a return location for dishwashing. And honestly, the double-walled stainless steel containers are of such amazing quality that a person would have to be a straight-up monster to throw it in the trash. Truly.
And the proof is in the pudding. Our containers have a less than 1% loss rate. You read that right. Less than 1%! Our team is extremely proud of that fact. In addition - they last a minimum of 3 years in circulation before they are taken out of inventory and recycled.
USEFULL is an actual solution in the reuse space. We aren’t simply “checking a box” in the name of sustainability - we are the sustainable choice in reusable takeout.
So, ask yourself - do you want to check a box or do you want to make a change?
By MJ Eldridge, Head of Operations & Product Management, MJ@usefull.us