Feel Good Friday - GreenToGo

Today's Feel Good Friday is about an innovative takeout container program in North Carolina called GreenToGo.

If you watched the PBS News Hour this week, like I did, then you've seen the story on GreenToGo. For those of you who missed it, you can watch it here or read the summary below.

GreenToGo is a project of Don't Waste Durham that was launched by Crystal Dreisbach and Amy Eller last summer after a successful crowdfunding campaign. Their goal is to reduce the number of single-use  disposables going into the landfill. As explained on Twitter "GreenToGo is the East Coast's first returnable, reusable takeout container service. We're a subscription-based model making it easy to #SkipTheTrash."

It works like this:

1. Become a member ($25/year for one box)
2. Go out to eat at one of the 25 participating restaurants in Durham
3. Check out a box for your take-out or leftovers
4. Rinse and return your box to a participating restaurant or drop off station
5. A team of volunteers picks up the containers, then washes and sanitizes them in a commercial dishwasher before redistributing the boxes back to the restaurants.

With 507 subscribers and over 1500 uses, GreenToGo is already making a big impact. A Duke University study found that "one GreenToGo container replaces the need for on average 1,000 disposable takeout containers"! If San Francisco can find a way to share electric scooters, certainly we can get on board with this idea.

If you live in Durham, you can sign up for the program here. The rest of us can show our support and follow new developments by liking the GreenToGo Facebook page and following them on Twitter @GreenToGo_Life.