Many Canadians have begun using reusable bags when they go grocery shopping, but what about the plastic food packaging from the grocery store and from takeout dishes?
With the support of Environment and Climate Change Canada and the City of Ottawa, the Circular Innovation Council along with some of Canada’s major food retailers – Sobeys, Farm Boy, Metro and Walmart Canada – have teamed up to pilot a program called Reuse Ottawa, where consumers can borrow a reusable food container and return it to the retailer or any other participating location.
Launching initially along Bank Street in Ottawa, the program will include any interested grocer, restaurant or food service business. Participating locations will offer reusable containers and will have access to container tracking, washing and distribution services provided as part of the pilot.
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How does it work? It starts at the pickup location. Consumers can sign up to borrow a Reuse Ottawa container, free of charge. Once finished with it, they rinse and return it to a Reuse Ottawa return bin. If it is not returned within 14 days, there is a charge of $10, which is revoked if the container is returned after 14 days.
All participating businesses “will share containers, sanitation, and logistics costs, creating a cooperative resource model unprecedented in Canada’s food service sector,” according to a press release announcing the program.
Jason Hawkins, CEO of Reusables.com, the company behind the technology for the program, says he hopes the program will have a high return rate.
“Without a high return rate, you may as well stick to recycling,” he said at the program’s launch event on Thursday.
Once a container is placed in the return bin, it will be cleaned and sanitized at the Reuse Ottawa sanitization facility, gategourmet, near the Ottawa International Airport. It will then return to a participating location to continue the cycle.
Gategourmet, which also processes all food and sanitization needs for the Ottawa International Airport’s many airlines, will clean and sanitize about 250 of Reuse Ottawa’s containers per hour.
The whole process takes about three minutes from being loaded into the cleaning machine to being dried and stored into yellow plastic tote bins to be sorted by Snelling Canada, which will distribute them back to participating retailers and restaurants.
To ensure cleanliness and proper sanitization, containers are swab-tested for allergens or other substances before they are used by the next customer.
The program is currently being rolled out across three grocery stores along the Bank Street corridor – Metro Southgate, Farm Boy Metcalfe and Farm Boy Rideau Centre – and a few restaurants.
Jo-Anne St. Godard, executive director of the Circular Innovation Council, says she hopes Ottawa businesses will embrace the system.
“We are open to any grocer, retailer, any restaurant, any cafe, anyone who is serving food, can get access to this program and we welcome them,” she told OBJ Thursday. “In fact, we are going to be working with the (business improvement areas) and other agencies in town to recruit them, so we really hope that the businesses embrace it and, equally, the consumers and the customers that visit them.”
Businesses looking to join what St. Godard calls the “reuse revolution” can sign up on the Reuse Ottawa website.
St. Godard told OBJ that Ottawa was the perfect host city for the pilot.
“They (the city) have a really important role in terms of communication and they have years and years and years of experience of running recycling programs like the blue box and so they know a lot about operations. They also have great capacity to help us promote things, like using bus shelters and in community signage,” she said Thursday. “They also know local organizations like the BIA and other not-for-profits and environmental organizations that can help us promote that operationally.”
In a press release, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the program a significant step for the city’s commitment to sustainable practices.
“This innovative pilot program creates a practical solution that benefits both consumers and the environment. By making reusable containers easily accessible and free of charge, we are making it easier for residents to make more sustainable choices in their everyday lives. This sets a new standard for the food service industry and helps create a cleaner, greener future for our community.”
