Our Town And Community Need Your Help
-- Restaurant Customer --

Dear Restaurant Customer,

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We love our takeout food. Unfortunately, it is often packaged in Styrofoam or black plastic. All plastic containers contain toxic chemicals, including carcinogens, neurotoxicants, and hormone disruptors, which leach into our food and affect our health.

 

Sustainable Southbury, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, is asking for your partnership in a program to eliminate takeout containers made of black plastic or Styrofoam. This program will benefit our town and community.

 

The campaign focuses on removing Styrofoam and black plastic from the waste stream and promoting non-plastic food storage options. Styrofoam is not recyclable. Black plastic often can not be recycled. Most takeout containers end up as single-use trash in our landfills and incinerators.

 

A good replacement option is aluminum take-out containers, which can be recycled indefinitely into new containers. The best option, of course, is for customers to bring their own reusable takeout container. Either option results in -- No waste! No trash! Protects our health!

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As a restaurant customer, you are in a powerful position to help reduce our town’s trash and influence restaurants to provide containers that safeguard your health. 

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What Can You Do?

• When taking home leftovers from a restaurant, the best option is to bring your own reusable takeout container. No waste! No trash! And you protect your health!​

• Encourage their favorite businesses to switch to aluminum containers or non-plastic options.

  • Aluminum is easily sorted at recycling centers, unlike Styrofoam and black plastic.

  • Aluminum is one of the most recyclable materials globally. It can be recycled repeatedly into new containers without loss of quality or purity. No waste. No trash.

  • Reduces exposure to harmful plastic chemicals, many of which are carcinogens, neurotoxicants, and hormone disruptors.

  • Costs less than most takeout containers.

• Nominating those businesses that have made the change. 

  • Sustainable Southbury wants to encourage and reward community restaurants that participate in this program. You can help us learn who has switched to aluminum or non-plastic options. We'll promote restaurants that make these changes on our website, social media, in newspapers, and via our email list of over 1,000 people.​​​​​