Reuse in schools

Schools consume and dispose of billions of single-use foodware items annually and generate a lot of waste that is not easily recycled or composted. Reuse is the solution.

New Report! The Conscious Cafeteria: A national pilot study on reusable foodware for healthier, more sustainable schools.

New Report! The Conscious Cafeteria: A national pilot study on reusable foodware for healthier, more sustainable schools.

girl in cafeteria with reusable plate

The USDA reports that 4.7 billion lunches are served annually in the National School Lunch Program.

Many schools still use single-use trays, bowls, plates, cups and plastic cutlery. Not only are these single-use foodware items harmful for the planet, but commonly-used single-use products in school food services have been found to be laced with toxic and carcinogenic perfluorinated compounds, commonly referred to as PFAS.

aerial view of girl eating out of reusable lunchbox

Sustainability is a goal for many schools around the country. But all too often they focus on diversion from landfills — through better recycling and composting — rather than eliminating unnecessary waste in the first place. 

No matter if it is tossed, composted, or recycled, waste requires expensive sorting, hauling, and processing. And for the environment and your school budget, reuse beats single-use every time.

Let’s teach future generations to reuse instead of just recycle.

Going reusable will save your school money.

Whether your school’s food is prepared and served on-site; orepared off-site and delivered from a central commercial kitchen; or provided by contracted food management companies, or a combination of the above—there are cost-effective solutions to shift from single-use to reuse in cafeterias.

Reallocating your budget from maintaining a costly take-make-waste operation in campus food services to a circular system of reuse for dine-in and grab-and-go will build efficiency that:

  • reduces waste, carbon emissions and plastic pollution

  • cuts costs

  • enhances the dining experience

  • offers a service that your school community enjoys and takes pride in

Shifting from single-use to reuse provides learning opportunities.

Want assistance?

It’s a great way to engage the entire campus community in an action research or community-service learning project. Learning about real world environmental issues and how we can solve them offers content for sustainability education to be integrated throughout the course curriculum. Student clubs and groups, parents, and teachers play a valuable role in developing, communicating, and participating in reusable foodware programs.

Resource Library

  • kid with lunch tray

    The Conscious Cafeteria Report

  • school buses

    Chart-Reuse Case Study: Reuse in Berkeley Schools

  • reusable lunch containers

    Ditching Disposables Toolkit - Center for Environmental Health

  • Chart-Reuse logo

    Chart-Reuse: A first-in-industry foodware reuse analytics platform

  • dishes in cafeteria

    The Cost & Environmental Benefits of Reusable Foodware in Schools

  • tiffins in a cafeteria kitchen

    Life Cycle Environmental & Cost Analysis of Disposable vs Reusable Ware in School Cafeterias

  • girl eating lunch out of reusable lunchbox

    Rethink Disposable Case Study: Palo Alto Unified School District

  • high school cafeteria

    Rethink Disposable Case Study: Bishop O’Dowd High School

  • students with laptops

    Rethink Disposable Case Study: University of San Francisco