Reusables in the Village

The latest issue of WIRED magazine includes an article titled, “The Cure For Disposable Plastic Crap is Here — And It’s Loony,” which discusses solutions to reduce single-use plastics.

One company highlighted in the article is Reusables, which provides “technology to power zero-waste packaging at college campuses & more.” One of Reusables’ founders makes a compelling argument: “It’s not up to people to be sustainable—it’s up to businesses and government to create the right infrastructure.”

Reusables collaborated with early-adopter environmentalists and restaurants in Vancouver and Seattle to create a service where take-out food is provided in reusable containers. Customers return the containers, and a third-party service washes and redistributes them. To expand their reach, Reusables partnered with colleges and universities, allowing students to take food from the cafeteria, eat in their dorms, and return the dirty container to smart bins equipped with RFID technology. With this system in place, Reusables is preparing to roll it out to grocery stores, including WalMart, in Ottawa.

In this model, the colleges or government pays for the system, and individual users are only charged if they fail to return the containers.

The brilliance of this idea lies in its simplicity—no new technology is required. Everything needed to make it work already exists.

My small rural town, with a population of roughly 3,500, has six restaurants and take-out options. This market is comparable to a small university. I’d love to see a local entrepreneur replicate the Reusables model in our town, ensuring that wherever my family gets takeout, we’d receive a reusable container that could be returned to a central bin. The entrepreneur could then collect, wash, and return the containers to the restaurants.

So, to the entrepreneurs of my little town: Get to it!