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Consumption of takeout food in single-use containers surged during COVID-19 lockdowns, producing a 53% increase in plastic packaging waste, according to “COVID- 19 and waste production in households: A trend analysis,” an international study published this month on ScienceDirect.com.
To start turning back the tide of plastic waste, which flows as far as Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Zero Waste O‘ahu has launched Full Cycle Takeout, a pilot program that supplies participating restaurants with clean, sanitized reusable takeout containers.
Users register online with a credit card, then request reusable containers when they order from one of four popular Haleiwa restaurants: Cholo’s Homestyle Mexican, The Cosmic Kitchen, Haleiwa Joe’s and Rajanee Thai.
“We launched late Friday and already have 35 users signed up,” said Nicole Chatterson, executive director of Zero Waste O‘ahu, in a phone call Thursday.
Customers have seven days to check their used containers back in at any of the program’s three return stations in Haleiwa, to be collected daily and washed and sanitized following Department of Health restaurant standards.
It’s free if customers return the containers within seven days; if not, they’re charged $6.95 per container.
That’s to offset the monetary and environmental costs of discarding the containers, made of No. 5 polypropylene plastic that’s FDA-certified as food- and dishwasher-safe. They were purchased from a company that will take them back after their approximately 1,000-use lifetime and recycle them, Chatterson said.
Kamehameha Schools and Tripler Army Medical Center use the containers in their cafeterias, she added.
The program also aims to help restaurants save money and comply with Honolulu’s Disposable Foodware Ordinance 19-30, which prohibits selling prepared food in single-use containers made of fossil fuels.
“We were so excited to sign up for Full Cycle Takeout,” said Michelle Maldonado, general manager of Rajanee Thai. “Our customers are really psyched!”
“We’ve already had a handful of other restaurants ask when we’re expanding,” Chatterson said, adding that Zero Waste also hoped to integrate with Meals on Wheels and other nonprofit meal providers, but for now, “we want to keep improving with community feedback.”
One goal is to replace the polypropylene containers with lightweight stainless steel, “as soon as we can afford it, to get us off of fossil fuels altogether,” Chatterson said.
Partners include Surfrider O‘ahu Chapter, Habitat for Humanity, Assets School and the Waialua Hawaiian Civic Club, with support from a NOAA Marine Debris Program Marine Debris Prevention grant.
For more information, visit fullcycletakeouthawaii.org.
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