Picture this: You’re standing over the blue bin, trying to figure out if this plastic cup can be recycled. There’s a little label on it with arrows and numbers, but you can’t remember what it means specifically. This is frustrating.
Not long ago, Sean Winn found himself in a situation like this. He wanted to know what plastic could be recycled and what couldn’t, so he started researching. And he was surprised at how broken the system was.
“A lot of consumer packaged goods are kind of … defective from a recycling point of view,” he said. “They were never designed to go through a stream of materials.”
Due to cost and other issues, only a small fraction of the plastic we use – and even throw in our recycling bins – actually ends up being recycled. According to a report by Greenpeace, only 5% of the plastic waste generated in the US in 2021 will be made into new goods. The rest ends up in landfills or the air that pollutes our environment.
One solution is to use less plastic. Last year, Winn started a nonprofit called the Plastic Reduction Project. The goal is to make the people of Austin less dependent on single-use plastic – the plastic containers, forks, cups and bags that we use once and then throw away.
Initially, the Plastic Reduction Project started a website that shared information about what individuals can do to make a difference, such as how to make better decisions at the grocery store.
“But our thinking is starting to change so fast that it’s actually a little bit unfair to put all the burden on the consumer,” Winn said.
Winn and the Plastic Reduction Project felt they needed to take their efforts up the ladder. They landed in restaurants.
“If the diner is never given a plastic fork, then that’s good for everybody, not just the green tree huggers,” Winn said. “Everyone gets a proper fork and a proper plate and, therefore, you move the needle more than preaching to the choir.”
Removing the plastic
Getting big chains like McDonald’s to change their ways feels impossible. But Austin has plenty of local restaurants. The ice cream shop around? The bakery down the street? In those areas, the group felt it could make a difference.
“With a local restaurant, I think we can get to a decision maker more quickly,” Winn said. “If he wants what you have to say, they can implement it immediately, and we can talk to them as a peer.”
The Plastic Reduction Project began offering free consultations to restaurants to help them find ways to use fewer plastic products. Winn said the group uses a dollars-and-cents approach, showing restaurants how replacing disposable dishes and utensils with reusable ones can save them money.
“We feel like that speaks the language of the entrepreneur, and, frankly, takes the culture wars off the table,” he said. “We don’t know what the political persuasions of the manager or owner are. And fortunately if the financial case is compelling, it doesn’t really matter.”
Consultations show local restaurants how to access the City of Austin’s zero waste rebate programs. Businesses can apply for funds to support their waste reduction efforts. For example, the city offers up to $1,800 to businesses that remove single-use plastic and switch to reusable and compostable items.
Some businesses operate on a to-go model, so using things like ceramic dishes and silverware is not an option. That’s the case with Casey’s New Orleans Snowballs.
![People stand in front of the window to order from a business.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/601bb93/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2080x1387+0+0/resize/880x587!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F65%2F7a%2F92ba598f4e319b8de100007c397a%2Fcaseys2-rd-april2023.jpg)
The locally owned shaved ice shop, which has been at the corner of 51st and Airport for nearly three decades, sells up to 65,000 snowballs a year. Casey’s co-owner Mars Chapman had a consultation with the Plastic Reduction Project a few months ago.
The group showed Chapman ways to make his business more sustainable, such as only handing out straws when customers ask for them and taking the plastic bags they use to carry ice to proper recycling centers. when it is finished.
Before the consultation, Casey was already using compostable products. The business stopped using Styrofoam in 2014.
![BPISidebar_PlasticReduction.jpg](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0997253/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1200x1200+0+0/resize/880x880!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3e%2F4e%2F452c21f24901a5cf8eb739e1c6c4%2Fbpisidebar-plasticreduction.jpg)
“I’m sick of the fact that we’re sending thousands and thousands, tens of thousands, of cups to the landfill that are just going to be there forever,” Chapman said. “That’s not the legacy I want to leave behind.”
He said that switching to compostables is more expensive for the business. But it was important to him, so he found ways to cover costs elsewhere, such as raising prices and adding more service windows so the business could sell more products.
But using compostable cups is not a cure-all. Casey’s uses Greenware Cups to hold its icy treats. It is made of PLA, or polylactic acid, a compostable material obtained from plants. They look like clear, plastic cups. Someone ordering a snowball might think the cup is recyclable and throw it in the blue bin, polluting the recycling stream.
Casey’s only offers a few cup sizes that tell customers in simple letters that the cup is compostable. Some just have symbols on the bottom, like “PLA” and the No. 7. This indicates that they are compostable, not recyclable, but not everyone knows that.
The Plastic Reduction Project recommends placing signs by Casey to inform customers that cups and serviceware are compostable. Chapman says he is working to get the signs up.
But making sure the cups and spoons actually end up being composted can be a challenge. For one thing, there are no compost bins at Casey’s. Chapman said Casey’s used to contract with a compost hauler, but customers often threw other non-compostable items in the bins, which caused problems for the business.
“No amount of signage resulted in us not having to dig through every single trash bag to get the items,” he said. “Otherwise, for each item we are fined $50, and we now have to pay a premium to work with a private compost hauler.”
These cups will only be destroyed in industrial facilities, such as those used by the City of Austin. A backyard compost pile is not hot enough to do this. So, in order for these cups to actually end up being composted, a customer must take them home and dispose of them in their city-issued compost bin, if they have one. Some end up in landfills, where it’s not entirely clear what happens to them.
However, Chapman said he prefers using these compostable products because he supports companies that don’t use plastic.
“By buying it, we are increasing the demand for it,” he said. “And showing the need for alternative solutions or products will ultimately help lower the overall price for the products. So for me, it’s very worthwhile to buy this, even if it’s just to throw it away, because hopefully it will be easier. then some people jump to buying compostable products as opposed to traditional.”
Vote with your wallet
That feeling of wanting to do better – and put your money where your mouth is – is something many people can relate to. That’s where the other half of the Plastic Reduction Project’s efforts come in. They encouraged Austinites to use a smartphone app called PlasticScore.
Users rate restaurants based on their sustainability practices. You choose a restaurant and then answer a series of questions about your experience, such as: Did your meal come on a disposable plate or not? Were you given a paper to-go bag or a plastic one? It then gives the restaurant a rating that other app users can see and make their dining choices based on.
“The app helps people find more sustainable restaurants where they can sort by voting with their pocketbook to give business to people who are trying to do better in this space, ” said Winn.
The Plastic Reduction Project is almost a year old, but it has already garnered more than 700 app reviews. People can join by following these steps.
Reviews can be useful for consumers, but the data collected can also help policy makers. Winn said the Plastic Reduction Project is sharing data with the City of Austin to help it understand what products restaurants are using, such as what percentage relies on Styrofoam versus compostables. He hopes that all this will help bring about real changes in the city.
“Our little ‘ant colony’ as I see it. You get all these people running around doing a small amount of volunteering, but it all adds up and it compiles this database,” he said. “Hopefully the policy will find that.”
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