A Takoma Park restaurant is experimenting with a project to manage waste from food service containers.

Takoma Beverage Company is piloting a program that will reduce waste from food service containers by extending producer responsibility and managing the products. Through mid-October, specific containers will be given to customers and reclaimed for sanitation and reuse.

From coverage in Source of the Spring:

“When participants order from the restaurant, they receive their food in specially designed containers,” Hansen wrote in an email exchange with the Source. “Once customers receive their order, they simply scan the QR code on the containers, enjoy their meal, and then return the containers, at their convenience, to the touch-free kiosk located across the street from the restaurant [on Laurel Avenue].”

The company will then collect the containers, which they own and provide as a service, inspect, wash, and sterilize them at a commercial sanitation facility, then put them back into use.

Once the containers have reached the end of their useful life, the company will shred them either in house or using local partners to turn them into new products, Hansen wrote.

Other restaurants in the area may sign on to the pilot.

For more information, read the full article.