In June of 2019, the Canadian Federal Government announced its plan to ban harmful single-use plastics and hold companies responsible for plastic waste. One aspect of the plan is to “work with provinces and territories to introduce standards and targets for companies that manufacture plastic products or sell items with plastic packaging so they become responsible for their plastic waste.”
Nearly every store you walk into has things in plastic packaging. So the latter part of that statement has a lot of business owners pretty worried, particularly those who sell take-out food. In this piece on the CBC website, Scout Coffee + Tea owner Katrina Tessier said “For a small coffee shop to say, ‘Hey we’re not going to do takeout,’ well then those people will just go to another coffee shop.”
What is a restaurant or café owner to do? In Toronto, Climate Ventures member Wisebird wants to help answer that question. Wisebird helps these businesses identify single-use plastic within their operations (or habits!) and enables them step by step to reduce their usage and/or shift to sustainable alternatives.
Wisebird’s vision is to make the take-out industry in Toronto zero waste by 2026. They plan to do this through collective ownership of re-usable containers, between restaurants and community members that are interested in building a more sustainable city.
You can be part of it! If you are a consumer of take-out that typically involves single-use plastics, fill out this survey about waste generation in your daily life. If you own a restaurant serving takeout that uses single-use plastics, fill out this survey about your everyday challenges and solutions when it comes to waste generation in your restaurant.
Do you have a product, service, or strategy to help tackle the climate crisis and put people and planet first? CSI’s Climate Ventures provides coworking, community, and programs to accelerate your success and amplify your impact.
(Photo by Christopher Flowers on Unsplash)
