#ChooseToReuse for "on-the-go" businesses Skip to main content
 

#ChooseToReuse for "on-the-go" businesses

Half of people in the Highlands consume food and drink on-the-go at least once per week. We know that 82% of people are concerned with the amount of single-use disposable containers and packaging used for takeaway food and drink. Reuse is the best way to eliminate waste created by single-use packaging and support more #ConsciousConsumption.

Businesses have a crucial role to play in promoting the switch to reusables. Not only can you help your customers by providing them with more sustainable options, but this can also reduce the amount of packaging waste in your operations.

Here are four ways that your business can support the switch to reuse, from simple tips to bigger changes.

Accept reusables & join our campaign

Join our #ChooseToReuse campaign by accepting reusable bottles, cups and containers for takeaway food and drink. It's the first step you can take as a business towards more sustainable packaging consumption.

Use our campaign resources to make sure your customers know that you're happy to accept their reusable packaging. It's also a great opportunity to retail your own, branded, reusable packaging options.

Request resources
Join our returnable packaging pilot

Returnable packaging schemes overcome a key barrier to reuse by allowing customers to access reusables at the point of sale, rather than having to remember their own.

There are a number of such schemes in operation, which you can read about here. We are currently running a free pilot of a Highland-based scheme, building on the success of the Highland Cup Movement , and offering Highland businesses the chance to trial both returnable food and drinks packaging

Get involved

Add your business to the Refill App

Make sure you let your customers know that you're happy to accept reusable packaging by adding your business as a station, for free, on the Refill App from City to Sea.

How does returnable packaging work?

We've put together the key information you need to know about how returnable packaging systems work. There are existing service providers you can use or simply chose to offer your own in-house system.


Charge for single-use

Visually separating the cost of packaging from the cost of the product, without increasing the price paid by the customer, allows them to see how much they're regularly spending on single use. It's been shown to work even better than a discount in the Cups Sold Separately report from Zero Waste Scotland.

Use our campaign resources to communicate what you charge for single-use - or your reusables discount - to your customers.

Request resources
Banish single-use

For the real heroes of Conscious Consumption doing away with single-use packaging altogether, and making reuse the norm, might be an option.

This can seem like a daunting prospect, so use our campaign resources to communicate a move away from single-use to your customers and how that will affect them.

Request resources

Velocity Bicycle Workshop & Café 

See how one café in Inverness successfully introduced a charge on all single-use items. Read more here.

The Highland Weigh

The Highland Weigh in Nairn is one place where you wont find single-use packaging. As a zero-waste shop they also don't provide disposable coffee cups, read about their experience here.


Want to do more to support Conscious Consumption in your business?

If you've already started your reuse journey, but aren't quite ready to move away from single-use entirely, have a look at our cup recycling pilot to make sure yours aren't going into landfill. Take the Food Waste Challenge from Zero Waste Scotland to see just how much you could be saving from the bin and have you thought about using a refill service for your cleaning products or toiletries, maybe you could #TryRefill in the Highlands.

We support the