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Recent changes to Maine\u2019s Food Code allow Maine businesses to offer reusable and returnable take-out food containers, giving businesses more options for serving their customers and reducing costs while also helping to curb pollution and protect Maine\u2019s woods, waters and wildlife.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0updated policy<\/a>\u00a0is a result of findings from a research project<\/a> that is exploring the potential for reusable take-out food containers in Maine as part of the Mitchell Center\u2019s Materials Management <\/a>team. Working with stakeholders, researchers found that provisions in the Food Code were hampering the efforts of interested businesses to offer reusable containers for take-out service. Under the updated code, any establishment regulated by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 (DHHS) Health Inspection Program, including restaurants, workplace and school cafeterias, and mobile food trucks, can provide customers with reusable take-out food containers that can be returned for cleaning and safe reuse.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the pandemic and tight labor markets, these are very difficult times for Maine restaurants and the hospitality industry,\u201d said\u00a0Jared Entwistle, a University of Maine graduate student and former brewery owner who is leading the project.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cMaine\u2019s new code allows interested restaurants the freedom to utilize reusable containers for take-out purchases. And research suggests that these programs not only have environmental benefits but can save restaurants considerable money.\u201d<\/p>\n Restaurant and hospitality businesses nationwide are considering reusable food containers to cut costs and stem an alarming tide of plastic pollution from single-use packaging. Disposable food containers represent eight of the top 10 most commonly littered items found in ocean clean-ups around the world,\u00a0according to the Ocean Conservancy and International Ocean Cleanup<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first step in keeping Maine beautiful is to move away from disposable food ware \u2014 the dominant source of litter and plastic pollution \u2014 and promote reuse,\u201d said Chrissy Adamowicz, Sustainable Maine Outreach Coordinator at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a project partner.<\/p>\n