Assessing the viability of a proposed third-party reusable foodware system: An environmental and economic comparison

Single-use plastic foodware production continues to rise despite the negative impacts it has on the environment. This continued growth is fueled by the increasing popularity of single-use plastic foodware for food service. Although previous studies have found reusable foodware to be a more environmentally, and economically, favorable alternative, the capital required to establish and maintain a reusable foodware system remains a common barrier to its implementation. This study aims to address this problem by assessing the environmental and economic viability of a proposed third-party company, equipped with an industrial dishwasher and commercial truck that could pick up and deliver reusable foodware to participating food service providers. The results of the Life Cycle Analysis revealed that the reusable foodware must be reused at least 25 times within the proposed system before having less environmental impacts in every category. The economic analysis concluded that the reusable foodware system could generate an annual profit while also saving participating food providers upwards of $0.07 per place setting. Ultimately, the third-party reusable foodware system could be an environmentally and economically favorable alternative to single-use plastic foodware. • Reusable and disposable foodware were compared in an LCA modeling a third-party dishwashing service. • Reusable foodware performed better in every LCA category after 25 uses • The transportation associated with sending / returning the reusable foodware had the highest impacts. • The break even point for reusable foodware cost was determined to be 800 meals when leased by a third-party.