Dish Truck: A viable alternative to compostables

By Joey Diana Gates
 
This is the latest installment in our Signs of Sustainability series, organized by Sustainable Tompkins. Visit them online at www.sustainabletompkins.org.
 
Since October 2014, a small, focused team has been meeting to develop a service that uses durable dishes to replace disposable take-out ware for food served at festivals, farmers’ markets and conferences, as well as for restaurants and other food providers. The dishes are collected, washed and returned to the original purveyor. This Dish Truck concept has attracted great energy, ideas on implementation and potential donors to the cause.
The initial objective was to further reduce the lifecycle impacts of getting take-out food through the use of durable dishes. The main byproduct of using durable dishes is gray water, a potentially nutrient-rich resource. Compostable to-go dishes, while a welcome change from products of yore, still have significant environmental impacts, including the fact that many are imported from China.
 
As the Dish Truck team began developing strategies, in January, Tompkins County Solid Waste and Cayuga Compost issued a press release stating, “Beginning April 1, 2016 only food items and paper napkins and paper towels will be accepted, along with compostable bin liners. That means compostable plastics and other food soiled paper, such as all cups and plates, will no longer be collected as part of the food scraps recycling program.” Our mission has become more urgent, as the waste stream grows exponentially again.
 
In researching how to implement our ideas, we found that in 2009, with the help of a grant from the City of Portland, Oregon, area farmers’ markets pioneered a Durable Dining program. Customers are served on durable dishes that they return to designated bins at the dirty dish stations, where they can also find compost, recycling and waste receptacles. In the first season of operation, thousands of disposables were displaced.
 
Other examples of such programs can be found in Canada and Australia, and right here. Caterers often haul their own dishes, cutlery, glasses and napkins to events, though doing so adds weight and work to the job. As long as the dishes are run through the traditional wash, rinse and sanitize cycle in a licensed commercial kitchen, this is permitted by the health department.
 
We are working with partners in the community to include Tompkins County Solid Waste and festival coordinators. Our advisory comprises Mike Culotta, Project Consultant; Mark Darling, Ithaca College Sustainability Coordinator retired; Joey Diana Gates, owner, Solar Systems Unlimited and Coordinator, Earth Day Ithaca; Margaret McCasland, energy consultant; Jan Norman, owner, Ithacamade, Silk Oak and member of thge Ithaca Farmers’ Market Sustainability Committee; and Gerald Torres, Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law at Cornell.  While we work on the business model we are also actively seeking fiscal sponsorship through a local 501c3 to allow us to accept donations and to put plans in motion.
 
Part of our mission is to make the process easier for both prepared food providers and consumers, as well as for event coordinators. To that end we are circulation a survey to assess the needs and thoughts of our local food vendors, event coordinators and the public. The survey is available electronically and on paper and can be obtained by emailing Joey Diana Gates at solkitchen1@gmail.com or by calling 607.387.7799. We also welcome new planning group members and volunteers to help make this happen.
 
Imagine the piles of waste that will disappear and being a part of the next solution to pollution.
This article is a continuation of an article published in Tompkins Weekly in September 2014.