You can help your favorite restaurant go disposable-free. Here’s how.

Upstream frequently gets requests from people across the United States (and sometimes abroad too) looking for resources, tips and tools to support their efforts in bringing reuse to their communities. They want to help their favorite local restaurants ditch single-use food and beverage wares for durable, washable, and reusable alternatives that are designed to be used thousands of times. 

Recently, a non-profit partner in San Diego, CA reached out because after their community events — nature walks to learn about local flora and fauna and litter clean-ups — they would frequent their favorite local taqueria. Their team is increasingly irked by the restaurant's use of disposable foodware for onsite dining. They are ready to take action and do something about it. 

But how do you encourage an extremely busy food operator to take up this cause?  

The team at ReThink Disposable demonstrated through dozens of case studies from diverse food businesses throughout California that reuse always wins for a business’s bottom line.

Even when you account for the upfront and ongoing costs of buying and washing reusables, businesses still save money by avoiding buying disposables over and over again and from reduced waste hauling. 

Businesses think they are operating with disposables for a good reason. Well, after years of convincing businesses through cost benefit analyses that reuse wins, we’ve learned that many of the reasons for not adopting reusable operations are perceived and not actual challenges. Let’s go through the most commonly perceived challenge – money – and look at solutions and resources that you can share with your favorite restaurants. 

Concerned about costs of reusables and washing? 

What about the costs of procuring thousands of single-use items every week and then paying to haul them away? How can we quantify the cost to the planet or people’s health from all these single-use items? (OK, while that last question may not be the best way to win over a business’s trust or interest, business owners are people too, and many of them do care about health and the environment).

But, the universal language for all business is money. If we can prove the cost savings, it’s a no brainer to transition to reuse at taquerias like our friend’s favorite above. We can demonstrate how similar businesses have made an impact through a switch to reusables.

Take for example, La Victoria Taqueria in San Jose, California. This business has five locations throughout the city, and the owner transitioned to reusable cups and stainless steel utensils for dine-in customers – eliminating 862,000 pieces of plastic, which totals 4 tons of waste. At the same time, the business owner’s net annual cost savings totaled over $24,000 per year when you combine the impact results from all five locations. 

El Metate in San Francisco transitioned to reusable cutlery and salsa cups. Payback period was less than one month and after that point, the owner saved over $8,000 per year by eliminating close to 500,000 pieces of single-use plastics. 

Taqueria Viva Mexico in Alameda, CA transitioned to metal sauce cups for the salsa bar to replace all those plastic sauce cups and lids diners would use onsite. This one simple change eliminated over 90,000 pieces of plastic and saved the business owner almost $1,000 per year. Product loss, which is a concern with smaller tablewares, was very minimal because they affixed signage and removed the trash can off the floor of the restaurant. Diners placed dishes into a bus tub.

You may also want to show a business video testimonial, like Gus’ Tacos in Los Angeles, CA,  Gus' Tacos Mexican Grill | ReThink Disposable.

Help a business consider the cost of switching from single-use to reusable items by using Chart-Reuse by Upstream.

Reviews get response 

Another language that food operators speak (other than money) are reviews. Restaurants are in the business of making customers happy and attracting new diners. As a customer, you have the power to crowdsource feedback on their packaging operations. Consider using the cool new apps like PlasticScore and Remark.eco to review restaurants and give them encouraging feedback on sustainability practices. 

The power of policy

Working with restaurants to voluntarily change operations because of cost savings is great, but having policies at the local, state and federal level targeting single-use foodware is even better because it creates a level playing field for all businesses and mandates operational changes over time with goals and benchmarks. Upstream’s #SkipTheStuff policy campaign can help you get an ask-first for accessories policy enacted in your local jurisdiction.

We hope that these resources help you build and add value in your communities as you engage restaurants and policymakers to do better for the planet, the economy, and our health!