House of Bread, Hartford, CT

The House of Bread Soup Kitchen is in the center of Connecticut’s Capitol City and serves over 250 daily meals to food-insecure residents. They were using primarily donated disposable cups, bowls, and utensils. ReThink Disposable helped the House of Bread make the transition to 100% reusable service ware for all meals.

Switching to reusables will save the organization over $1,600 annually and keep over 120,000 disposable items out of the trash each year. This translates to 845 pounds of annual waste reduction. The two inspirational nuns who volunteer for the program, Sr. Maureen and Sr. Theresa, report that switching to reusables also gives the food-insecure residents who dine at the House of Bread a more elevated dining experience, contributing to a community feeling when dining together.

Read The Full Case Study Here (PDF)

ReThink Disposable is a program of Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund conducted in partnership with local organizations, businesses, and government agencies. Generous support is provided by a changing list of public and private funders. To learn more about the program, its partners, and funders, visit: www.rethinkdisposable.org.

Packaging practices prior to ReThink Disposable:

Single-use plastic cold cup
Single-use expanded polystyrene hot cup
Single-use plastic spoon
Single-use plastic fork
Single-use plastic knife
Single-use paper soup container with lid

Recommendations Implemented:

5oz durable plastic cup
8oz ceramic mug
Stainless steel spoon
Stainless steel fork
Stainless steel butter knife
8oz ceramic bowl

Image of Amber Schmidt of ReThink Disposable with Tom

ReThink-CT-Case-Study-House-of-Bread.pdf (1.19 MB)

Business Information:

27 Chestnut St
Hartford, CT 06120
United States

Website

The Bottom Line

$1,643.70

net annual savings

123,500

disposable items reduced per year

845 pounds

annual waste reduction

The House of Bread is always looking for ways to improve how we can best help our clients AND how we can help Mother Nature! Our next step toward improving our environmental impact was to eliminate the plastic utensils, bowls, and cups that we use and replace them with reusable, washable items. As a New England Zero Waste Organizer, Amber was instrumental in making this happen and was simply a joy to work with.

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Tom Porell Co-Director, House of Bread

ReThink Disposable - Stop waste before it starts

Reducing Single-Use Food Packaging

ReThink Disposable works with local governments, businesses and institutions, and consumers of single use food packaging to inspire a cultural shift away from single-use "throwaway" lifestyle.

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