By Jinesse Reynolds
It is estimated that every year 95 million single-use cups in Marin County end up in landfills, streets, and waterways. Additionally, many take-out and other single-use containers are made with PFAS and other toxic chemicals that leach into food and drinks and cause harm to both humans and the environment.
PlasticFree Marin, a Sierra Club project under the leadership of co-chairs Jinesse Reynolds and Susan Hopp, has been working hard to move the community to opt for reusable foodware instead of single-use. With a recent grant from Zero Waste Marin, we are happy to announce a new partnership between Good Earth Markets and USEFULL, a cutting edge returnable/reusable cup service that allows you to borrow stainless steel cups. This makes it even easier to reduce your waste, even when you’ve forgotten your reusable mug at home.
USEFULL’s service incorporates an easy-to-use app that makes checking out a stainless steel cup as simple as checking out a library book. It also provides users with impact metrics, locations for checkouts and returns, and notifications to remind them when their cup is due for return.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with USEFULL and support the effort to eliminate single-use cups,” says Al Baylacq, co-owner of Good Earth. “We hope to model success with this program, and expand it to include other like-minded businesses and additional reusable packaging options for take out foods. If we strengthen the infrastructure around reuse in our community, we empower each other to make single-use packaging waste a thing of the past.”
USEFULL’s to-go cups are now available in Good Earth’s Fairfax and Mill Valley Cafes. To learn more, visit usefull.us online.
Jinesse Reynolds is the Co-Chair of PlasticFree Marin.
PlasticFree Marin poses with Supervisor Rodoni in Mill Valley. Photo courtesy of Jinesse Reynolds.