The Tiffin Project founder Hunter Moyes partners with restaurants to replace disposable to-go boxes with reusable stainless-steel containers (Image by Tracey Kusiewicz via straight.com)
Disposable takeout containers aggravate me so much that three years I initiated The Tiffin Project. Its goal: get restaurants here in Vancouver, Canada to give customers an incentive to bring their own reusable to-go containers, and help support local farm produce in the process. Am pleased to report that it took three years, we’re still operating at a very small scale, but we did it! How, you ask? Easy. I’m going to give you the recipe. But first, a little background.
The Environmental Impact of Disposable To-Go Containers
Disposable takeout containers contribute about 25,000 tons of waste to Vancouver landfills each year, in a greater metropolitan area that is home to just over 3,000,000 residents. One can safely assume that a larger city produces much more takeout waste. Much of this waste includes my arch nemesis, polystyrene (also known by the trade name styrofoam), Resin Identification Code [RIC] 6, which is not widely recyclable in North America.
When we first started talking about rolling out The Tiffin Project last summer, our main partner, the Noodle Box, with its 7 locations, was going through about 900,000 disposable takeout containers a year. Collectively, the restaurant partners we had enlisted were spending thousands of dollars a year on their takeout packaging. Some of the Noodle Box’s customers would even order their food in takeout boxes, only to eat in the restaurant, meaning that 20 grams of food would be bagged in a 15 gram takeout box.
The Tiffin Project Recipe for Reusable To-Go Containers:
The Tiffin Project partners with restaurants to provide incentives to customers who bring their own reusable to-go container.
I’ve spent more time over the past few years with The Tiffin Project than I have cooking food. (Thanks again to my past employees and co-workers for picking up my slack), but I believe that what I’m doing is definitely worth the effort.
The concept works like this: The Tiffin Foundation, a not for profit that I founded, sells a stainless steel reusable to-go container (designed here in Vancouver) that people genuinely like. They use it in local restaurants who we have partnered with us and receive incentives (provided by the restaurants) such as discounts off their meal. We make enough money to keep buying more containers, loosely sustain our organization and invest in the local food community, to help make good food available to our restaurants.
I’m a chef. So, here’s my recipe for The Tiffin Reusable To-Go Container project.
Ingredients:
Four Parts : Environmentally Conscious Metropolitan Area (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
- One Part: Inspiration from the “Tiffin” system in Mumbia, India (est. 1880) (‘Tiffin’ means a light meal)
- One Part: Credentials as an aspiring Chef, combined with Brute Ambition, with a dash of Foolishness (For Presentation)
- One Part: Experience in Brand Management, Social Media, Public Speaking & Event Organizing
- One Part: Network in Social Investment Community (Excellent in British Columbia
Method:
- Combine social entrepreneurship community with half of your brute ambition – let temper.
- In a separate work space – combine: inspiration, Chef Credentials, and past work experience. Whisk until incorporated as a Non-Profit Organization.
- Knead network, with dash of ambition and foolishness in deserved measure.
- Combine all ingredients and blend with your environmentally conscious metropolitan area – allow a week for rest (you, not the product).
How The Tiffin Reusable Container Model Works
Future of Zero-Waste To-Go Containers in Vancouver and Beyond
In its first year of operation, The Tiffin Project sold 600 reusable to-go containers which in turn, helped to eliminate a few thousand disposable takeout containers from Vancouver’s waste stream. And we had a lot of fun in the process. Seven restaurants representing a total of 13 locations, now offer an incentive of $1 or 10% off takeout meals to customers who use the Tiffin reusable to-go container. More details are on The Tiffin Project website.
We’ll soon be rolling out our first European study with restaurants in Belgium, and the Project gets interest and encouragement from other cities, too.
The Tiffin Project will continue in Vancouver but with new vision and target: food court waste in high-occupancy downtown buildings.
You Can Reduce Takeout Packaging in Your City
With the help of a small number of people who hate to see things go to waste, I made The Tiffin Project happen with a $15,000 community development loan from Vancity, a BC credit union with a social purpose in my free time. Think of the possibilities for others who may be able to bring our model to a larger scale. Feel free to follow my recipe to make something like this happen in your city.
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I bought a tiffin set and use it as well as reusable, glass Pyrex containers that I’ve used for restaurant leftovers for the past two years – to great praise from restaurant workers. I even take the wrapped butter pats that proliferate the bread plates!
Try it! You’ll like it!
Nice Launa! The new “Doggy Bag” is a waste-free one. All of my restaurant partners here on the West coast understand it naturally, and see the initiative positively. Cheers!
Greetings, All.
I live on the East Coast – MA . We have some catching up to do. There are two, new and excellent restaurants close to where I live that base their menu on local , sustainable farms: 80 Thoreau and Bondir Concord (also in Cambridge). The local, sustainable food theme is growing across the NE region. We’re moving to organics collection for farm to table and back to farm. Seems like sustainable “to go” practices would be a great fit.
I’ll approach the owners with the idea of a local “Tiffin Project” and see what happens. Thank you for the inspiration!
I love this idea. Here on the east coast I bet we could halve the plastic waste of the world by eliminating Chinese Food takeout containers. Now, I try to take a container with me when I go out to eat in case I have leftovers. It gets some raised eyebrows but this Tiffen project is much better. Gonna work on this in my local area. Thanks for planting the seeds.
Thanks for the thanks Launa. It just made sense for me to do it. Google the tiffin system in India! A system in Mumbai has been going since 1880, and services hundreds of thousands a day; one can’t help but wonder at it, and how simple it is.
And, to you Joan – “Noodle Box”, the project’s biggest partner, goes through over 1,000,000 takeout boxes a year – the classic cubic ones. Any restaurant that does high volumes of takeout should attempt this with its customers, alone or with a community. The initiative has shown that customers “get it”, and are more loyal, which translates to customer retention for the business a reduction in spending on takeout containers. Don’t worry about the raised eyebrows (as I’m sure you don’t)! It just makes sense, and I think we’ll get there as a culture.
Totally had this idea years ago but never acted on it! Glad Hunter did! Kudos!
Where are you planning to operate in Belgium? Message me @ZeroWasteBXL thank you!
This is a fantastic idea! I never eat out, but if I did, I would go for this!!! On another note, while I rarely buy prepared salads and foods at a deli or supermarket, (salad bar, soup bar). I wonder if one brought a container from home and had it pre-weighed at the cashier before adding the food, if the store would allow me to do this. There is so much packaging that comes with deli and store prepared foods. And on yet another note….I carry a fork, spoon and knife in the car on the rare occasion I do have to get prepared foods so I don’t have to take the plastic silverware.
Very cool work! So exciting to see local businesses support this sort of paradigm shift. I’m curious if there have been any logistical issues in the to-go front, in terms of the restaurant having to wait for the customer to show up with their tiffin before they can pack up the food. Also, do you have to use a Tiffin Project container, or will any reusable container work?
Hello Everyone,
A bit related….When I get an invite for dinner or a party, often I am offered me something to take home. Some leftovers or a dessert. So I bring a few containers. (“Oh! I just happen to have some containers in the car!”) The host can just pop whatever in those and not go the paper plate with foil on top route. (Easier for the host too
and paper plates/foil are often a bad idea in case you suddenly have to brake suddenly!) And if the gathering is a long distance away, I have my cooler in the car with some cold packs. (It is in the car anyway, with snacks, water, etc, on long trips.)
Pooja! Yes, there were some logistic issues to be overcome in the early days of the project. It didn’t negatively impact any of the partners though. Typically, when people come into a restaurant to order takeout, they are accustomed to waiting anyway. Also, we had most of our interactions during lunch hours with our partners (that seemed to be the crowd that was into it, or understood it without issue), and metropolitan area folks seemed to be understanding of the logistical hurdle of the container.
On the subject of the “any” container – technically, reusable containers are against food safety protocol. This could be different where you live, but I doubt it. In Vancouver, it is. I’ve been at odds with the governing health body, as they’ve insisted that every container needs to be washed in an industrial dishwasher prior to being used in the Tiffin Project’s process. This has lead to adoption issues with some restaurant models, and success in others. Basically, any container that comes in is against food safety code without proper protocol (this is what I’m now working on)(in Canada, provincial legislation needs to be changed in order to allow for it, as crazy as that sounds). For my restaurant partners, they only offer incentives for people who are part of the project – anyone else is given a smile and a verbal pat on the back, but not the discount.
And, good on you Michael! I have a Chinese takeout place around the corner trained now – I bring him 5 or 6 containers with each transaction, and he gives me %20 off (and I still haven’t told him about the project yet!).
Hunter – thanks for the inside look at some of the challenges of setting up the Tiffin Project. So are the tiffins collected by the restaurants and washed between each use? Do customers drop off a dirty tiffin and pick up their order in a clean one, or are they re-using their own tiffin each time? Here in NYC, I would assume we have similar regulations about containers, but I wonder what would stop a customer from eating half a sandwich and then slipping the other half into a tupperware in their backpack…
What a neat idea- As a college student, I would love to see how a similar idea like this could be implemented in the dorms. We have two dining halls on campus, one that is a more traditional sit-down buffet and another that offers to-go options. The amount of food waste in the buffet style dining hall is incredible but if students were able to bring reusable containers to store leftovers in their rooms so much could be saved. I’m always complaining about the plastic to-go containers for salads, I wonder if the dining hall would be willing to at least test-run a similar program to this. This post has prompted me to look into some options and start asking a few questions, thanks for the great idea!
I really love this idea of reducing the waste of take-out containers. I live in NYC and I think that a Tiffin project in NYC would be very beneficial. However, that being said, I believe it would also be extremely difficult to implement in a large city that relies so heavily on delivery. Although there are issues regarding compliance with health standards, I think that the main issue for the Tiffin project in NYC would be that many people currently rely on calling in their take-out and would therefore not want to return to the restaurant to drop off their Tiffin. However, there is one restaurant chain – Just Salad – that does give customers the option to purchase a “to go” container that they can reuse and also receive a discount. I think that simple programs like this can show the potential and may actually demonstrate consumer interest in a local Tiffin project. I think that both programs are important because they make consumers think about the tremendous waste that is a result of their take-out lifestyle. I enjoyed learning more about the Tiffin project and hope to see this program in more cities.
This is a wonderful idea! I hope that successes still come your way. The use and waste of to-go containers in restaurants is extremely high. I have worked in restaurants for over 10 years and have worked with the restaurants to become greener and waste less. I never thought of reusable to-go containers. If this idea can make it to New York City that would help to reduce the high amounts of plastic waste that New York City produces each year.
I also really hate all the waste that comes with take out food! Just Salad in New York have recently come out with reusable branded salad bowls that cost $1 and come in a variety of fun colours. I love mine and just wish I could use it in other places too. I tried returning my plastic container to the Chinese Restaurant on my corner for a refill and they were very hesitant in taking it – I now know that this is probably because of the health regulations! Just Salad seem to get around this by asking the customer to remove the lid from the bowl, then they use a sheet of plastic to separate the bowl from the food preparation surface while they scoop the salad into the bowl. Perhaps it is not so much of an issue with salad? I imagine would be harder to get around with hot food. Would love to see Tiffins make it to my home city Melbourne some time though!!
Do you have any leads on reuseable containers that have compartments (3)? We, a group of volunteers, make frozen meals for seniors and would LOVE to find containers our customers could return. We would wash them in an industrial dishwasher and reuse, but we haven’t been able to find any. Because of the nature of our program it isn’t feasible for customers to have their own dishes refilled.
Margaret,
Have you tried the website reuseit.com? Seems to have quite a wide array of reusable containers!
– J.O.
I came up with an idea similar to this the other day when my partner came home with a takeaway, plastic boxes galore wrapped nicely in a plastic bag!
I’m so happy that the idea is a reality somewhere in this world! Now to share your site on my Facebook and start mentioning it to others 😉
I could see this being a very viable thing here in Northetn California. Not sure though about stainless steel. So many still use microwaves and they would need to transfer to glass or paper.
There are some options out there. A company called “Black and Blum” has hybrid products that have both metal and composite plastics – they’re very expensive though. I chose Onyx because its products are also made in a facilities which have been audited for environmental and social justice concerns. Also, I was just never able to get behind any sort of plastic use, as the recovery statistics on plastic recycling is very low and uses too much energy and fresh water in its processes. Metal has a very high recovery rate, and will stay food grade for much longer – the vast majority of the original Tiffin Project units are still in operation and ready for many more years of use. Also – microwaving food is very unhealthy, so perhaps the project could work down in Northern California with a double mission!
Did you get in touch with Violaine Dupuis of Tiffin.Be? Please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll put you in touch.
Hi Hunter! I see that I first commented on this thread four years ago, and now I’m setting up a reusable takeout container service in Barcelona!! I have been in touch with Violaine, yes, and I’m very impressed with her work in Brussels. Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to have a takeaway container chat!
Aimee! Mucho Gusto!
That’s amazing. I just sent Violaine and e-mail yesterday asking for a catchup. Yes, it’s been years – I was in Southeast Asia studying Singapore while opening up a restaurant there! I’m so happy to hear that you’re launching something in Barcelona. I still have dreams about the Boquiera Market – would love to come back and visit. Send me your e-mail, and we can go from there! Would be lovely to see where you’re at.
Hi Hunter, this is an awesome project – congratulations on how far it’s come! I go to a small college in Vermont that recently instituted to-go boxes in the dining halls. The initial backlash was disheartening, but now that the system has been in place for a few semesters people have gotten used to it. One complaint I still hear is that it is hard to anticipate needing your box, and carrying it around all the time is a hassle. No doubt in anticipation of this concern, we can actually switch out our box for a carabiner when we’re not using it, which is small and hard to lose if you clip it to something! Just a thought moving forward with the project.
I also have a question. This might be different for us in dining halls, but they are very strict about cleanliness of boxes. Even if a box looks sparkling clean we have to switch it out for a new one that has been sanitized on premises. This is also why we are not allowed to bring our own containers, which some have attempted to get around buying a box. Have you run into these issues?