Global Green USA is looking for fast casual and quick-service restaurants to participate in a 150-store pilot project in New York City. The project's mission is to inform the design of a cost-effective, national recycling solution for foodservice packaging.
The 150-store pilot will build upon the findings of previous pilot programs conducted in partnership with Starbucks Coffee Company, Pret A Manger and other members of the Coalition for Resource Recovery.
Participation of 150 or more restaurants will generate the post-consumer paper packaging material needed for mill, collection and sorting tests, thereby creating demand for the material and informing the design of a cost-effective, national recycling solution for foodservice packaging.
Pret A Manger, a fast casual restaurant chain with more than 265 store locations globally, announced that 25 of its New York City stores will participate in the expanded program slated to launch this fall.
"We are very excited to continue our involvement," said Chris Gwilliam, Pret a Manger's director of operational projects. "Pret is committed to reducing as much waste to landfill as we can and we are proud to contribute to Global Green's research and the greater goals of finding an industry-wide solution while achieving our own waste reduction goals."
CleanRiver, which builds recycling containers and programs and has developed systems for Tim Horton's and Pret A Manger, will donate 150 containers for in-store use for Global Green's pilot program. The new recycling containers provide the flexibility to expand from one to four streams and utilize 4-color customizable label/poster messaging options, to support optimal customer pre-sort.
Each participating brand will be offered up to 30 containers to ensure a diverse representation for the pilot.
More information on how to participate can be found online.
