Island Eats
Takeout Without the Trash
Local startup launches project to help Islanders ditch the disposables
Since two years ago, when in-person dining was temporarily halted (and then reopened with limitations), restaurants across the Island have become much more reliant on takeout orders to continue to serve their customers the food they love. It also appears that the pandemic era may have given customers an increased appreciation of the convenience of taking meals to-go. Today, even with the dining rooms reopened (and often as packed as ever), the takeout business is still thriving.
While the takeout food boom offered a welcome respite from the Covid doldrums, and surely saved many businesses’ very existence, there is a downside: selling complete meals to-go is highly reliant on single-use packaging. As part of our broader campaign to reduce single-use plastics and other disposable items, VCS has worked with businesses to help identify and promote less harmful materials for takeout containers. However, the frustrating reality is that there is no easy solution here: plastic containers labeled “recyclable” are frequently not accepted by any actual recycler, paper products are too contaminated with food to recycle, and compostable containers are often not accepted by centralized composting operations (including our local food waste drop offs at the transfer stations) due to the potential for PFAS contamination.
On the other side of the issue, VCS efforts to extend the Island’s BYOBag and BYOBottle ethos to include “BYO Bowl” faced stiff headwinds (due to overall difficulty for both businesses and customers) even before the pandemic. It remains a great idea that VCS endorses wholeheartedly, but we also recognize that it is unlikely to ever achieve the level of success of the other BYO efforts.
That’s why we are excited to announce our partnership with Island Eats, a locally-grown initiative that offers customers another option: receiving their takeout orders in reusable and returnable stainless steel bowls. The attractive and durable (and 75% recycled!) bowls can be reused thousands of times – meaning every Island Eats bowl can keep thousands of disposables from landing in the incinerator or landfill.
Most important, Island Eats makes choosing reusable containers convenient for everyone. For the customer, it’s as simple as heading to the Island Eats website to purchase a membership, then placing an order at a participating restaurant: Aalia’s Coffee, Black Sheep, Bobby B’s, Chilmark Tavern, Juice By the Sea, Katama General Store, MV Salads, and Pawnee House. Make sure to tell them you want it in an Island Eats container, and when you’re done with the bowl, just return it to any participating restaurant. Island Eats will pick up all the used bowls and transport them to a commercial facility, where they are professionally cleaned and sanitized, and then redistribute them to the restaurants for the next use.
The pilot stage of the project is now underway, and will run through the end of September. We encourage everyone who is interested to sign up today! Also, if you love the idea but aren’t a takeout customer yourself (or on-Island right now), you can support it financially by donating to the project instead. Thank you!
Island Eats is led by Jessica Mason, a Chilmark resident and Executive Director of a national nonprofit that helps launch cooperative businesses. She has built a career around designing and leading entrepreneurial ventures in the social and public sector, as well as coaching innovators and entrepreneurs as they launch their own startups.