Rather than tossing the foodservice products in the trash, consumers place them in a return bin, where they’re collected and taken to a facility to be inspected, washed and redeployed. | Courtesy of Bold Reuse
A reusable packaging company’s durable drinkware and other foodservice products will be adopted by a handful of schools in Seattle and multiple U.S. soccer stadiums, the company recently announced. It’s adding new infrastructure to meet the additional demand.
Portland, Oregon-based Bold Reuse, formerly known as GO Box, will supply its reusable foodservice materials to six additional Seattle Public Schools locations. The company already provides its reusables to a middle school within the Seattle public school system, and that project has notched a 99.5% return rate for the reusables since September 2023. The company announced the expansion in early February, adding that the reusables will also be rolled out in two private schools in Seattle.
Rather than tossing the foodservice products in the trash, students are asked to place them in a return bin, where Bold Reuse collects them and takes them to a facility to be inspected, washed and prepared for redeployment.
To meet the higher demand in Seattle, the company has invested in a dedicated reuse washing facility in the city’s downtown district, according to the Feb. 8 announcement.
The company’s reusables will also be found in more sports stadiums. On Feb. 20, the Kansas City Current, a team of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), announced all poured beverages throughout the team’s CPKC Stadium will now be served in Bold Reuse reusable cups. And on Feb. 21, the Portland Timbers (Major League Soccer) and Portland Thorns (NWSL) soccer teams announced reusables from Bold Reuse will be adopted in certain sections of Providence Park, the teams’ home game venue.
In a statement, Scott Jenkins, vice president of facility development for the Current, said nearly 2.2 billion single-use plastic cups are disposed of in stadiums across the U.S. each year.
“We are thrilled that none of them will come from CPKC Stadium,” he said.