The new BYOB: Bring Your Own Box to Restaurants for leftovers!
by Jac
We hope that you have started 2024 with your reusable bottle and bags. Single use is SO 2023! In fact, single use packaging makes up nearly HALF of all plastic packaging. Can you think of anything else in your life you throw away after just one use?
If you haven’t quite made the switch yet, keep going! But if you are already using these reusable items, or just like a good challenge, we have a stretch goal for you: BYOB. That is, Bring Your Own Box to restaurants for leftovers. This is a lofty goal for us at GGGE too. We will explain why we want to try it and how!
Learn —- What's the problem with single use takeout containers?
Personally, my household LOVES leftovers! It always feels like a little bonus to have some extra of a yummy dish…plus less time cooking. I’ve relied heavily on the Maize+Mash grilled cheese with bacon for my kids' next-day school lunches! But as much as I love leftovers, I don’t love the containers most leftovers come home in.
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The Challenge with Takeout Containers: (Lack of) Recycling
Many takeout containers are made from styrofoam or black plastic. Styrofoam is not recyclable curbside. Black plastic, while it may seem recyclable, isn’t picked up in recycling facilities because they use optical scanners to look for objects on conveyor belts. Guess what color the belts are? Yup, black, the same color as the plastic, which means they are often missed.
The Challenge with Takeout Containers: Health concerns
There is also concern, particularly with styrofoam but with all plastic, that the chemicals used to make the plastic can leach into food, especially when it is hot or heated. Research is continuing to emerge on this issue. Paper containers, while they may seem like a better option, are sometimes coated with PFAS, a chemical which has also been linked to health issues.
Frustrating, right? This is where BYOB - Bringing your own box - can help!
We’ve noticed a change since COVID that many restaurants no longer ask you if they can box up leftovers - they will bring you a box upon request, and you can box up your food yourself.
We will admit that this is even a stretch for us at Go Green, and we have rarely remembered our containers! But recently I dined at Fire and Wine (the eggplant lasagna cannot be missed!), and brought my own container to the restaurant anticipating I would bring some home. It was super easy, and felt great to know I was re-using my own container.
While our tip this week is focused on boxing up leftovers, you may soon be able to use your own container to take away your entire meal under a new Illinois law. Effective August 11, 2023, Public Act 103-0524 allows consumer-owned containers at Illinois food establishments to be filled or refilled with ready-to-eat foods. The decision to allow use of consumer-owned containers is made individually by each food establishment. The Illinois Department of Public Health recently published guidelines on this law that are being disseminated to county health agencies throughout the state. We will be looking into how this can work in Glen Ellyn and will share more in a future newsletter! By the way, consumer-owned containers have been allowed for bulk foods in Illinois since 2020.
Want to give it a try? Check out some tips!
Start small - try bringing a container to your favorite local restaurant where you know you always bring home leftovers.
Select the right restaurant - maybe the fine dining establishment you have picked to celebrate your birthday isn’t the right place to start. Think about a more casual place - maybe a lunch spot - where it feels comfortable to try bringing your own container for the first time.
Try putting a container in your car or purse ahead of time if you know you are going out to eat
Keep a spare container in your car at all times
Some containers we love for leftovers are Ukonserve stainless steel containers and Ukonserve Bounce Box.
If you have plastic containers, reuse those until you are ready to upgrade to glass or stainless steel.
Tell the friends you are dining with that you brought your container so they can help you remember to use it!
