A look back on USEFULL's 2023

Believe it or not, 2023 is almost over! Here at USEFULL, we're so excited about the year of growth that we have had, as we work to make plastic-free takeout a reality in more places! 

USEFULL by the numbers

USEFULL has truly transformed over the past year - here are a few of our milestones!

  • The total number of checkouts grew from 77,000 in December 2022 to 342,000 in December 2023! In total, our partners have kept 32,900 pounds of trash out of the landfill and 103,000 pounds of emissions out of the air!

  • Our average loss rate throughout the year has been less than 1% - which ensures that our containers are ACTUALLY reused!

  • In fact, the majority of our containers have been used over 50 times!

The USEFULL family is growing!

We welcomed five new partners to the USEFULL family this year:

  • St. Olaf College, MN - March

  • Good Earth Natural Foods, CA - March

  • Island Eats, MA - April

  • Union College, NY - September

  • University of Southern California - October

Exciting new products!

This year, we introduced our new dividers - perfect for keeping the peas away from the carrots!

Learn more about our products!

We also had some new updates in our app: 

  • Increased granularity in our reports feature - campus partners can now see more specific data!

  • Improved user experience in the app - faster loading time!

  • Enhanced ADA accessibility 

  • Integration with all major campus card systems - making it easy to implement USEFULL at more college campuses!

Learn more about how our app works!

Joining communities

We loved connecting with others at events and conferences this year! Here are some of the highlights:

Events

  • MA Blue Economy Bill (June): In June, our founder and CEO, Alison Cove, was asked to speak at the Massachusetts State House in support of the new Circular Economy Bill! (Read more!)

  • Sustainable Packaging Coalition (September): Alison spoke on a panel about how quick-serve restaurants can build successful – and scalable – reusable packaging programs. 

  • See Change Sessions (September): All conference attendees ate and drank from our reusable cups and containers!

  • Circular Cities Week Panel (November): Alison moderated a wonderful panel on the Massachusetts circularity and sustainability landscape on November 1. 

  • MassChallenge RESOLVE '24 Awards (December): We are so excited to share that we have been nominated as a finalist for this award, which recognizes entrepreneurs and aims to convene a global community of innovators! (Learn more!)

Conferences

After joining these wonderful associations last year, we were excited to return to these conferences. We loved connecting with others who wanted plastic takeout to be a thing of the past!

We are proud to celebrate the close of 2023, and we're beyond excited for 2024! Cheers to a wonderful year, and we hope you have a joyous holiday season!

 The USEFULL Team

USEFULLKarlie Hayes