Take Out With Out Campaigns to Reduce Plastic Food Packaging Waste

Americans produce a whole lot of waste - particularly food packaging waste. Every year US citizens get rid of more than enough plastic-based forks, spoons, cups, and plastic bags to go around the equater more than 300 times.

Luckily, a terrific campaign has recently been launched to allow us to lessen the amount of food ware packaging waste we all make each year - it's known as Takeoutwithout (ToWo), and they are driving you to do a few things whenever you purchase your food to go:

1) ReFuse the unnecessary food ware. Do you genuinely want 30 napkins with your burrito? And do you really have to have that plastic cutlery if you are going to take your take away food home where you own metallic reusable cutlery? In many cases the answer is no and thus Take Out With Out is asking you to get a bit stronger, to resist all those check out men and women who are quickly putting unneeded disposables inside your bag, and to ReFuse the unnecessary packaging.

2) ReTake your reusable food packaging. Many people are getting into the habit of carrying their own bags to the supermarket and grocery stores - ToWo questions why not carry your own non-disposable flatware, containers, straws, mugs and more any time you are buying a meal and beverage for takeout.

3) ReConsider your behavior. Take out foods are frequently oily and not healthy and Takeoutwithout is also pushing you to ReConsider your own dietary habits. They're asking folks to take up much healthier eating practices, to prepare food at home more frequently, and to shop at a nearby farmer's market (where the food is much fresher and a whole lot less packaged).

Among the central pieces of the program appears to be a listing of involved restaurants who are all offering rewards for people to bring in their own containers and overall use much less plastic packaging (e.g., 25 cents off your tea if you use your own cup). This list remains under development on Take Out With Out's web site, but restaurants can post their business name and information and will be contacted once it's up and running.

The campaign is very active on twitter (having a following of close to 1,000 people and regular tweets multiple times per day) and facebook (having over seventeen-hundred fans).

For the readers, I'd really like for you to think of strategies you use to decrease your food packaging foot print. Do you stock your own reusables in your car? Do you drink out of your own mug at your workplace? Do you own a cafe that is using compostables?

And, if you are thinking about lowering the amount of food packaging that you use or supporting your local businesses as they reduce the volume of food packaging supplies that they go through, make sure to check out TakeOutWithOut!