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Korean Palace, San Jose
Korean Palace was already using as much reusable foodware as they thought possible for their dine-in and banquet customers. As part of a community case study, we like to add one restaurant that makes small changes in their reuse plan, like Korean Palace, that only needed to convert disposable chopsticks and sauce cups. We can see even with small changes there is a large impact.
With the help of our ReThink Disposable Zero Waste Specialists, Korean Palace is eliminating 240 pounds (the weight of a competition winning pumpkin!) from the waste stream, and the business is saving $444 annually that can be reinvested into other upgrades to the space. We can see that they were able to cut their dine-in disposable usage by 19%, now only utilizing single-use for take-out. Korean Palace is now diverting over 10,000 pieces of single-use disposable foodware from the waste stream annually!
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. Read the full San Jose Community Restaurants case study here.
Business Profile:
Korean Palace is a family-friendly restaurant and banquet hall in San Jose, California. They enjoy hosting events and welcome community to enjoy their delicious Korean cuisine. Their best sellers are the authentic Hot Pot BiBimBap and their delicious seafood pancakes. The restaurant utilizes an Auto-Chlor dishwasher and has been able to seamlessly incorporate their new reusable foodware with their system.
Packaging practices prior to ReThink Disposable:
- Branded disposable chopsticks
- 2 oz. Plastic sauce cups
- 4 oz. Plastic sauce cups
Recommendations Implemented:
- Stainless steel chopsticks
- 2 oz. Stainless steel sauce cups
- 4 oz. Stainless steel sauce cups
Before & After
Document
Business Information:
2297 Stevens Creek Blvd
San Jose, CA 95128
United States
The Bottom Line
Korean Palace switched 19% of their disposable foodware to reusable for their dine-in guests, which corresponds to over 10,000 individual single-use items that are no longer being thrown away every year.
$444
net annual savings
10,235
disposable items reduced per year
240 lbs
annual waste reduction
We’re thrilled to switch to Rethink Disposable’s reusable chopsticks, rests, and sauce cups. The heavy weight and elegant styling feel just like what we use at home. Our only worry? They’re so nice, someone might want to take them! Still, we’re excited to make this change and help reduce the number of trees being cut down.
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.
Bedford Public Schools, Bedford, MA
Bedford Public Schools, located in Bedford, Massachusetts, serve approximately 2,500 students across four schools: Lt. Eleazer Davis Elementary (PK–2), Lt. Job Lane Elementary (3–5), John Glenn Middle School (6–8), and Bedford High School (9–12). Approximately 1,400 lunches are served daily across the district.
Thanks to a generous donation from PlasticFreeRestaurants.org, the schools’ polystyrene (foam) lunch trays were traded for Ahimsa stainless steel reusable trays in December 2024. This was the final phase of a district-wide cafeteria waste reduction program; since 2023, the district has implemented a food share table, and separating recycling, food scraps, and liquids from true trash.
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 expanded polystyrene 5-compartment tray
Recommendations Implemented:
Durable stainless-steel 5-compartment tray
Before & After
Document
MA-Bedford-ReThink-Case-Study.pdf
(981.12 KB)
Business Information:
97 McMahon Rd
Bedford, MA 01730
United States
The Bottom Line
$11,777.40
annual net cost savings
261,720
disposable items reduced per year
5,796 lbs.
annual waste reduction
In the Lane school, we have gone from 18 bags of trash a lunch day down to 6. The reusable trays have vastly reduced the amount of garbage thrown out and have actually streamlined the whole lunchtime custodial operation.
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.
Cedar Lake Triathlon Series, Chester, CT
The Valley Shore YMCA holds the Cedar Lake Triathlon series each summer in Chester, Connecticut. At each event in the series, the YMCA provided plastic bottled water and disposable cups. ReThink Disposable helped them make the switch to reusable silicone water bottles and reusable cups instead! Our New England Zero Waste Organizer collected the used bottles and cups for sanitization and reuse at the following events - making 3 of the 5 events in the 2024 series zero-waste! Overall, 600 disposable plastic items were kept out of the trash.
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 disposable paper cup
- Plastic bottled water
Recommendations Implemented:
- Reusable durable plastic cup
- Reusable silicone water bottle
Before & After
Document
Business Information:
Cedar Lake
Chester, CT 06412
United States
The Bottom Line
100% savings
eliminating the purchasing of all disposable cups and bottles
600
disposable items reduced during the three zero-waste events
Rethink Disposable’s innovative bottles and process seamlessly provide our triathletes with hydration on the go while eliminating the wasteful paper cups originally provided. Our participants were extremely impressed with the functionality and simplistic process, all while providing them with the peace of mind of being environmentally conscious.
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.
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
Document
ReThink-CT-Case-Study-House-of-Bread.pdf
(1.19 MB)
Business Information:
27 Chestnut St
Hartford, CT 06120
United States
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.
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.
Truro Community Kitchen, Truro, MA
Truro Community Kitchen (TCK) is a non-profit food provider on Cape Cod in Truro, Massachusetts founded in April of 2020 to combat food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their mission has continued, and every Tuesday, a team of volunteers carries out the preparation, packaging, and delivery of free and anonymous meals to registered households.
Working with ReThink Disposable, TCK has replaced 100% of their disposable plastic items with reusable containers that are returned, washed, and sanitized for reuse. Truro Central School generously donates the use of their dishwasher each Tuesday to TCK’s Green Team, who sanitize and store the containers for recirculation. This reuse system will save TCK $6,700 in annual costs and prevent 12,000 plastic items from entering the trash each year. The return program uses an honor system, rather than QR codes or phone apps, so both TCK and program participants incur zero costs.
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 black plastic 3-compartment container
- Single-use black plastic 3-compartment container
- Single-use clear plastic single container
- Brown paper bag
Recommendations Implemented:
- Reusable plastic 9"x9" 3-compartment container
- Reusable plastic 9"x6" single compartment container
- Reusable plastic 5"x5"x3" container
- Reusable branded cloth bag*
*After several months, TCK opted to revert to sending meals to recipients in brown paper bags. They continue to use the reusable bags as container collection bags that are distributed with the meals. The reason for making this change was the difficulty washing and drying the bags each week. A better washable material bag would be recommended for entirely eliminating paper bags.
Document
Business Information:
P.O. Box 1053
North Truro, MA 02652
United States
The Bottom Line
$6,700
net annual savings
18,000
disposable items reduced per year
1.2 tons
annual waste reduction
Four years and 26,000 meals after we started, it is more than time for us to transition away from serving our meals in disposable takeout materials. This sustainability initiative is so exciting not only because it will help us hugely reduce the amount of waste we produce, but also because it is proof that TCK is prepared to stick around and support our community for the foreseeable future.
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.