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ReThinking Disposables
By Madison Davis, California Waste Program Intern Since starting my summer internship at Clean Water Action in Oakland, I’ve discovered how little I really knew about how disposable containers’ impact our environment. Of course as a life long environmentalist, I’ve always tried to do what I could to limit my impact on our precious resources. Using reusable bottles over disposable ones has always been a given for me, but other disposable containers weren’t completely out of the question before I started working at Clean Water Action. For some reason our society has yet to recognize that single
Water as a Human Right
The Human Right to Water, passed by the legislature in 2012 and signed by Governor Brown, was a great policy idea with almost no teeth. Community members and advocates worked for years to gain recognition for water as a human right, with our first bill, AB 1242 (Ruskin, 2009) vetoed by then-Governor Schwarzenegger and its successor, AB 685 (Eng, 2012) taking the full 2-year session to pass. The legislation was short and to the point:
It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for
Speak Out Against Data Centers at the Michigan Public Service Commision
The Michigan Public Service Commission is rushing through approvals for data centers in Michigan, which put our water at risk while consuming large amounts of energy. Join their meeting in person in Lansing or virtually online and speak out!
Speak Out Against The Saline Data Center
The Michigan Public Service Commission considering rubber-stamping approval for a giant 1.4 gigawatt data center in Saline Township. The township zoning commission already denied zoning for this data center, and were immediately sued and bullied by big tech into reversing their decision. DTE is trying to move this process will move forward with no actual public input, risking our water, and likely leading to even more hikes in residential utility rates. Join virtually and speak out!
La Enramada Restaurant y Taqueria
With the help of our ReThink Disposable Zero Waste Specialists, La Enramada is eliminating 4,840 pounds (the weight of three grand pianos!) from the waste stream, and the business is saving $15,427 annually that can be reinvested into other upgrades to the space. We can see that they were able to cut their disposable usage by 82% and totally eliminate disposable usage for dine-in service, now only utilizing single-use for take-out.
With generous support from Silicon Valley Community Foundation, our team has taken ReThink Disposable to San Jose. We teamed up with three restaurants in the San Jose community — Korean Palace, La Enramada, and Thai Chili — to reduce single-use disposable waste by over 381,376 individual pieces and over 5,695 pounds annually. After the conversions to resuable items, this group of restaurants will collectively be saving over $17,000 every year by purchasing fewer disposables — dramatically reducing plastic pollution in their operations, and providing real-time examples of businesses that are both eco-friendly and economical in San Jose.
Business Profile:
La Enramada Restaurant y Taqueria is a community favorite in San Jose, California. The locals enjoy Brazilian caldo de pollo and authentic enchiladas Michoacanas along with delectable fish dishes. The restaurant utilizes a three-sink system and has seamlessly incorporated their new reusable foodware into their dishwashing duties.
Packaging practices prior to ReThink Disposable:
- Plastic fork
- Plastic knife
- Plastic spoon
- Plastic sauce cup
- 24 oz. paper cold cup
- 32 oz. paper cold cup
- Paper hot cup
- Coffee cup sleeve
- Plastic straw (paper-wrapped)
Recommendations Implemented:
- Stainless steel fork
- Stainless steel knife
- Stainless steel spoon
- Stainless steel sauce cup
- 24 oz. tumbler
- 32 oz. tumbler
- Porcelain mug and saucer
- Glass straw
Before & After
Document
RT-CA-La Enmarada Case Study - SVCF.pdf
(4.71 MB)
Business Information:
1635 McKee Rd
San Jose, CA 95116
United States
The Bottom Line
La Enramada's conversion will save the restaurant over $15,000 annually and means that 360,834 pieces of trash are no longer being thrown away every year.
360,834
disposable items reduced per year
$15,426
net annual savings
0.4 months
payback period before seeing savings
We stopped using all that plastic and paper—utensils, cups, straws—and switched to stainless steel, glass, and ceramic; it feels good, it looks better, and our customers notice the difference. For us, it’s about respect for the food and the planet.
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.