Case Study: Union One Month In

In early September 2023, Union rolled out its new partnership with USEFULL. After Union student government leaders had worked with the administration to bring reusables to campus, it was exciting when plastic-free takeout became a reality!

Even more excitingly, one month into their partnership with USEFULL, Union’s environmental savings have already started to pile up! Students and staff checked out - and re-checked out -  2,882 containers, keeping almost 3,000 containers out of the landfill in one month alone! 

Union’s savings:

  • 213 pounds of trash

  • 5,982 gallons of water

  • 670 pounds of emissions

Union’s one-year projections:

  • 5 tons of trash (including 3 tons of plastic removal!)

  • 171,000 gallons of water (the same as showering every day for 290 years!)

  • 14 tons of emissions (the same as driving from New York to LA 12.5 times!)

Over the past month, we’ve also found that USEFULL’s fair and friendly stick policy ensures a quick turnaround on reusable containers. Even though the USEage period (a punny way of saying the number of days students have to return a container) is two days, Union students bring their containers back in 22 hours, on average. And how does this affect dining operations? Fewer containers are needed, meaning less storage and more efficient operations!  

Union’s late rate has also been extremely low, at just 3%. And the loss rate has been even lower – a minuscule 0.22%! Moreover, the vast majority of students (83%) chose to simply link their USEFULL account to their campus CBORD card. 

It’s been an exciting first month at Union. We absolutely cannot wait to see their environmental impacts grow in the future!

Case StudyKarlie Hayes