How to guide: Maximising reuse back-of-house

Food deliveries can use a lot of unnecessary packaging, including plastic, which becomes your responsibility and adds to your waste disposal costs. The best way to avoid or reduce packaging waste is to switch to local suppliers who deliver produce in reusable (returnable) packaging.

The growing demand means you should be able to source more sustainable options quite easily and, in doing so, support your local food economy. Start by asking your current suppliers if they will deliver produce in reusable tubs, which you return in exchange for another one, when your next order is delivered.

If they are open to the change, you’ll need to agree on the type of container and discuss expectations, for example, should you clean the tub before it is returned, will there be a charge for lost or damaged returns, and so on.  We recommend also suggesting reusable ice packs instead of single-use, gel ice packs. You could even buy the ice packs and give them to your supplier when you return the tubs, for them to use next time. Freezing them will only be a slight blip on their logistics chain, as they must freeze the single-use ones before adding them to orders anyway.

If your suppliers aren’t open to reusable options, research alternative vendors who may already use or be willing to try sustainable packaging solutions. You can also talk to local farms and/or approach growers at farmers markets.

Swapping single-use plastic storage for reusables makes environmental and economic sense. Do an audit and you might be surprised by how many single-use storage items you’re relying on in the   pantry  and cool room.

Start with the single-use, rectangular plastic containers. While they are cheap, stack well and you can see what is in them at a glance, they are made for single-use serves of take-away food and as such they quickly get old, split, and need to be thrown out.

You can invest in good quality, reusable containers that have the same properties and don't break. Also, because such containers are designed for storage, they seal better and keep food fresher. Source durable, stackable, sealable, washable, heat-resistant containers instead. BPA-free hard plastic or stainless-steel ones are best.

Food-grade, reusable silicone food bags are durable and designed to seal in freshness, making them a much better alternative to using  single-use, zip lock bags  to store perishable or non-perishable items from one day to the next.

For longer-term storage of perishables in your fridges or cool rooms, avoid vacuum packing to extend shelf life and instead buy locally and in smaller quantities. While storing these in sealable containers or bags will take up more space, you will be storing less at a time and not risking them spoiling.

For staple ingredients with a long shelf life, like spices, flour, and sugar, bulk buy and store in reusable containers made from BPA-free plastic or glass.  For sauces and  dressings, avoid single-use sachets or other plastic options and  again, buy in bulk and store in glass. These can be served in small jugs, pots or a suitable glass or crockery dish.

The initial investment in reusable storage options will pay off over time, through less single-use product purchases and reduced waste collection costs. If you currently label single-use containers and plastic bags with a permanent marker, it’s worth investing in dry-erase markers and/or washable, erasable labels.

High volumes of single-use gloves are sent to landfill every day, yet the  national Food Standards Code doesn’t require food handlers to use them for any of the usual tasks (preparation, production, cooking, putting ingredients or prepared meals on display, packing and storing food, or food service).

The food safety laws do, however, require hospitality staff to change their gloves whenever they switch from handling ready-to-eat to raw foods and after they drink, eat, smoke, scratch, cough, sneeze, blow their nose, and use the toilet which explains why so many pairs are thrown away daily.

Frequent and thorough hand washing is still one of the most important ways to reduce the risks of cross contamination and the NSW Food Authority notes the use of tongs, spoons and other utensils may be preferable in many situations, even when gloves are worn.

Educating staff on proper handwashing techniques and making utensils the default option (saving gloves for when they are really needed, for example to cut up chillies), will make a noticeable difference to the total number of pairs of gloves that your kitchen staff discard.

Opportunities for sustainable reuse are emerging in what is often the most profitable offering of  all cafés – selling coffee. The solutions below will become widely available and perfectly complement the eventual phasing out of single-use cups and lids (which you can start  planning for now, see Choosing the right reusables, our how-to guide on choosing the right approach for your café).

Coffee beans are usually packaged in bags made of plastic, foil and paper. Wholesale, bulk beans are still only available in the same 1kg bags consumers can buy in supermarkets, so cafes have to order several with each delivery. The pressure valves and resealing strips that allow these bags to be opened and closed all day long in a café scenario are made from plastic. Such  components are difficult to extract for recycling and the bags most brands use must be sent to landfill.

Coffee roasters committed to sustainability have begun to transport and distribute beans in sealable, reusable buckets. Customers swap an empty bucket for a full one when they receive a new delivery. The company takes the empty one away to clean and reuse.  

The approach clearly saves thousands of coffee bean bags from entering the waste stream and it also saves money for both the roaster and café. One of the company’s using the approach, which is becoming more and more popular, reports that every bucket in circulation saves an average of six hundred single-use bags from landfill each year.

Bulk ordering by the bucket instead of ordering separate 1kg bags from a wholesaler  means you can sell coffee beans directly to your customers, who already love your coffee. Value-added retail ideas include:

• encouraging your community to BYO their own sealable container and buy coffee beans to take home
• sourcing branded canisters to sell beans in (or ask for a deposit and lend them out).

Search for suppliers in your area who are offering this approach and/or contact local coffee roasters and ask if they are likely to offer it in the future.

Milk taps

Plastic milk bottles are likely to be producing the bulk of your cafes waste. It’s now possible to invest in a ‘milk tap’ which is connected to an 18-litre reusable keg, stored in your fridge or cool room. Multiple kegs can be linked to the tap for continuous flow of cow’s milk.

The empty keg is swapped for a full one when the milk runs out, and each keg can eliminate 7,000 plastic bottles over its lifetime.

The milk tap was pioneered by a Tasmanian company which is partnering with milk producers and dairy co-ops around the country, for distribution to cafés and supermarkets. Check for local suppliers in your area. The advantages of investing in a milk tap include the following:

• It doesn’t take up much bench-top space and increases workflow efficiency.
• It reduces milk wastage, delivering the exact amount of milk needed.
• It significantly reduces waste and bulk in your bins.
• You can sell milk on-tap for locals to purchase in reusable bottles.

At the time this how-to guide was finalised, milk taps where not yet being offered in Sydney. The Reusable Café Project recommends searching online for your nearest dairy or co-op and enquiring about future milk tap availability. If they know there is a demand, they are likely to explore the idea.

Make your own non-dairy milk

For dairy alternatives, the best solution to avoid using multiple single-use cartons a week is to make your own nut- and plant-based milks. It gives you control over the ingredients and taste and will likely be a popular move among customers who order alternative milks, as you can promote it as a healthier option. Commercial plant- and nut-milks have an assortment of additives, including oils and sweeteners, as well as flavour enhancers, emulsifiers and thickeners. They are usually made with very small amounts of nuts (2–3%) or soya beans (10+%).

Making your own is not difficult. There are plenty of recipes to choose from and instructions to follow online.