25 June 2013

Doing Away with Throw Away

Do you know about GO Box?  If not, you should! Go Box is the brainchild of Laura Weiss.  It’s an innovative service providing reusable take-out containers at over 75 food carts and other downtown eateries that has eliminated the use of more than 25,000 disposable take out containers in the two years since its inception. Amazing!

On July 1st, Go Box will be marking its second anniversary with a celebration at our Monday Pioneer Courthouse Square Market.  Come on down, meet Laura and learn more about this wonderful service.  Additional information below.

“To honor our amazing customers for their commitment to sustainable practices and thank our community partners for all their support, we’re offering free lunch vouchers to the first 100 GO Box subscribers to come down to the Farmers Market to celebrate with us,” explained Laura Weiss, GO Box founder and owner.

It's easy. Use your token at participating businesses.

It’s easy. (1) Use your token at participating businesses.

Since launching in July 2011, GO Box customers have eliminated the use of more than 25,000 disposable take out containers in downtown Portland.  The 8,000 in the first year more than doubled in the second year, replacing 17,000 in year two.  Weiss estimates that the food carts in downtown Portland use roughly 60,000 disposable containers every month, so there is still plenty of opportunity for growth.

Weiss created GO Box to reduce waste.  “Before GO Box, you’d get your meal in a disposable container, eat

(2) Receive your meal in a reusable Go Box container.

(2) Receive your meal in a reusable Go Box container.

your lunch, and 20 minutes later the container was in the trash. That always bothered me,” says Weiss, “and it sort of went against the green ethos of the culture here in Portland.”

Customers can subscribe to GO Box at any of the 75 participating food vendors.  For $18 per year, a customer can use GO Box as many times as they like.  When they return their used container at a GO Box drop site, they receive a GO Box token, which they keep until ready for their next waste-free meal.

Drop your used container at the nearest drop site and receive a token for your next use.

(3) Drop your used container at the nearest drop site and receive a token for your next use.

GO Box picks up the containers, has them washed in a commercial kitchen and returns them clean to the vendors.  In keeping with its green mission, all pickup and delivery is done by bicycle.

More than 1500 people have already discovered GO Box, and over 75 vendors – a dozen of which are bricks and mortar eateries – now offer GO Box, and more are being added each month.  Customers can find an up-to-date list of GO Box vendors  and drop sites information about corporate programs and more at www.goboxpdx.com.