Scaling up reusable container systems through city-wide centralized collection and washing

Abstract

Expanding reusable takeout container systems using a returnable model may be accomplished through a city-wide centralized collection, washing, and redistribution system. We constructed an LCA model and assessed primary energy, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), water consumption, end-of-life waste, and cost for a proposed system in Galveston, TX. We examine the effects of varying operational scale in a centralized system against decentralized and single-use alternatives. We also examined how material choice affects impact comparisons for reusable and single-use options. Both large-scale centralized and decentralized washing reduced each cup's life cycle GHGs by 51 %–63 % and increased costs by 2x–2.5x compared to single use. A small-scale (31 FSEs) centralized system increased each cup's life cycle GHGs and costs by 170 % relative to the large-scale (170 FSE's) centralized system. These results highlight that centralized reusables can offer similar GHG benefits to those in decentralized systems, but centralization requires large-scale implementation.