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Skip the Stuff & Reusable Seacoast

Christina Dubin, MS. Ed., M.P.P.

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The NH Challenge

Conserve landfill space and avoid expansions �
50% of waste is from out of state

NH's new Solid Waste Disposal Reduction Goal: �25% by 2030 & 45% by 2050�
Where can we reduce?

Single-use!

NH DEP Waste Hierarchy

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“Accessories upon request” policy
Single-use accessories (ie plastic utensils, straws, condiment packets, napkins)
83 Skip the Stuff laws in U.S.
561 billion disposable food service items are given out annually in the U.S. = 4.9 million tons of waste
Items are NOT recyclable
Saves restaurant approx $5 K!

That’s where a Skip the Stuff policy comes in

Simply changes the default for takeout foodware accessories to Opt in vs. opt out to prevent needless single-use waste
561 billion disposable food service items are used every year, resulting in 4.9 million tons of waste.
Easy, low hanging fruit
NO COST to restaurants or consumers.
In fact it saves food businesses money — by simply flipping to an opt-in versus opt-out model,
single-use plastic waste is prevented from entering the municipal solid waste stream, benefiting taxpayers and municipalities.
561 billion disposable food service items are handed out every year in the U.S., resulting in 4.9 million tons of waste. Restaurants spend $19 billion USD annually on disposable foodware. Flipping to an opt-in versus opt-out model for disposable foodware greatly reduces single-use plastic waste that ends up in the municipal waste stream, while saving restaurants money. Cost savings range from hundreds to thousands of dollars a year depending on the takeout numbers and accessories. The Green Restaurant Association averages that a restaurant saves $5,000/ year with this policy.

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OFRs are Skip the Stuff supporters

Tideline Public (Durham)

Carriage House (Rye)

Flatbreads (Portsmouth)

White Heron (Portsmouth)

The Press Room (Portsmouth)

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The NH Challenge

Conserve landfill space and avoid expansions �
50% of waste is from out of state

NH's new Solid Waste Disposal Reduction Goal: �25% by 2030 & 45% by 2050�
Where can we reduce?

Single-use!

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Paying with your HEALTH

Phthalates, Bisphenols, PFAS, Brominated

Flame Retardants

We are making residents pay with their health

Hazards presented throughout the lifecycle of plastic from extraction of fossil fuel to production in environmental justice communities in LA, TX and now Appalachia.
Plastic is a polymer made with strong carbon-carbon bonds and then the over 13,000 associated chemicals are essentially layered in (not bonded) and can leach out into our environment, food, bodies
These chemicals do many things including disrupt our endocrine systems leading to outcomes like diabetes and reproductive problems, many of the chemicals are neurotoxicants or carcinogens and the vast majority remain unknown and unstudied
½ of plastic today is single-use
That plastic does not biodegrade, it photodegrades into tiny pieces known as microplastics and smaller yet as nanoplastics
Scientist have discovered mp throughout the human body including blood and live lung tissue, cancerous colon tissue, both fetal and maternal sides of the placenta
landfill leachate also contains microplastics and forever chemicals like PFAS which can contaminate groundwater
need municipalities to step up and not wait for state policy change

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CONSIDERATIONS

Food and packaging/containers = 45% of MSW
Much of it partially or entirely plastic
Over 13,000 chemical are associated with plastics. Many are highly toxic including phthalates, bisphenols and PFAS. Plastic containers can shed microplastics and leach chemicals.

Reusable Takeout Pilot

Reducing waste & protecting public health

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WHY?

Less than 6% of plastics are recycled
Recycled plastic is more toxic than virgin plastic
“Compostable” is unregulated
More costly and require an industrial facility
Consumer confusion and contamination
Need to keep organics diversion stream clean

Recycling & Compostables

Not a solution for plastics/bioplastics

Recycling and composting of containers is not a solution.

The report my org put out found that less than 6% of plastics are recycled. and its always down cycling, a bottle into a fleece for example. a recent report showed more toxic chemicals in recycled than in virgin plastic

bioplastics or compostables are also not a solution. they continue to promote single-use culture, contributing to the waste stream and are not regulated so they too can contain chemicals.

if they don't make it to an industrial composter they behave the same as their fossil fuel counterparts by breaking up as opposed to biodegrading.

There is understandable confusion about which plastics to put in the recycling bin, which to put in the compost bin and this has lead to composter in the Pacific Northwest to stop accepting bioplastics. A trend that we expect to continue across the country.

over 20% of MSW is food waste. we have to keep that diversion stream clean.

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Reusables are the Solution

$ave money, reduce waste, protect public health

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Aligns with 2023 FDA food code

1st Reusable Container Pilot in NH!

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Foodware Tracking and Containers

For restaurants with current dishwashing infrastructure

Tracking models

are app based

model for restaurants with dishwashing already in place

With Foodware you request a reusable container and through the app place a $1.50 deposit. You then scan vendor and container QR codes when you collect your meal. It has to be done in person because of this I think the Recirclable model is a much better fit for Portsmouth.

Foodware

also includes a sustainability index which allows you to track metrics on how the program is doing (via adoption and return rates, CO2 emissions avoided along with other data).

Organizations such as Plastic Free Future and Reusable San Mateo County are already using it and see it as a very important part of their programs

Recirclable

runs 9 locations in the Boston area include Harvard's School of public Health

also have people using their platform in other places like Rhode Island

rental program if you want to use their containers which are #5 plastic made by Recycline

or what I have here is the model that we'd use to purchase the stainless containers that foodware sells

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Where We Are

Extensive research
Selected company to provide containers & tracking
Chose stainless containers
Contacted Health Departments
Secured funding to launch pilot
Conducted pre-pilot interviews with restaurant owners

Announcement of launch coming soon and case studies in the next year.

After a year of preparation