To be successful in saving the environment, a system must be designed to entice public participation and assist society’s transition away from single-use containers.

The ease of use, the public accessibility to information, and the ability to implement the system on any type of container are the key features of the system.  The refundable deposit also gives an incentive to the general public for picking up a wrongly discarded reusable container and returning it for reuse.

Without a good reusable container system, single-use items will shift away from plastic to other low cost single-use containers (such as paper, aluminium) when subjected to a government ban; waste of valuable material resources will continue and a sustainable solution cannot be achieved. 

Plastics are low-cost, durable, and versatile materials.  When made into food containers, they offer insulating property and good protection to the food contents.  The MUST plastic container is a sustainable solution created for the takeout food industry where:

• Containers are only made out of non-problematic plastic
• The return-for-reuse model allows the public to do their part in plastic waste reduction/elimination.
• Closing the recycle loop within the takeout food industry to make plastic containers an integral part of a true circular economy.
• A direct return of recycled plastic containers from the takeout food industry to the correct manufacturers, supplies them back with uncontaminated and consistent feedstock to help maintain raw material quality required for a successful recycling process.
• A low carbon footprint from plastic recycling, which consumes less energy than the production of virgin materials, and from the distribution and logistics of a lighter weight plastic container.

Since the cost of the container is no longer included in the cost of the product, better container materials and designs with more functions and features can be used to optimize the reusable economic benefit, to reduce waste and to improve customer’s satisfaction.   Higher cost but fully recyclable materials such as stainless steel, aluminium or glass will become the viable options for takeout food businesses.

With good documentation about material specifications, manufacturing and distribution sources for each and every containers registered on the MUST database, we can develop a unified environmental friendly approach in the procurement and use of takeout food containers.

Collectively we can stipulate and build a responsible working relationship with manufacturers, importers and distributors to have the containers fully recycled at their end-of-life.