The takeaway food segment is major part of all restaurants, wether that be local or corporate chain. At the centre of take away food is the disposable container. They are usually made of foam paperboard, or insulated paper.

Now these are disposable, but I think that by creating a network of permanent to go containers we can reduce the usage of such products. This system could be implemented in both food and drinks.

Food: A collection of containers could be stored at the locations that agree to use this service. When consumers want to take leftovers home or take away, restaurants would use the containers with customers who have signed up. Once they are done with the containers, either they can drop them off at one of the partner locations, or wait to have them picked up by a biker. They would be taken to the “container headquarters” and then washed and delivered back to the partner restaurants. Another option would be to let people own their own containers and let them bring it to the restaurants. If they want to take something home, they can put the food in the container and then be on their way.

Drinks: The exact same premiss as food, but I think this would work better if people just owned their own cups. Some coffee shops already do this and allow you to give them your mug. But to take this idea further, if Starbucks for example would require customers to bring their own cups and charge an extra fee if a hard paper cup is needed, I believe customers would eventually adapt. Similar to how grocery stores have changed their policies on plastic bags.

I know its a very rough idea, but the premise is that we can reduce the impact of these takeaway containers by changing consumer attitudes. Nobody wants to force things onto the consumer system, however attitudes will hopefully adapt.

Great company who could potentially consider this idea:  goodnatured

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_food_packaging