Learn how to switch from single-use to reusable in Toronto restaurants
Project background
This summer, we are continuing our partnership with Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) and welcoming Green Neighbours Network (GNN) to survey businesses across the city to keep learning about their practices with single-use and reusable foodware. This work is hosted with support from Partners in Project Green, a program of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
Because our data from previous years suggests customers and businesses want more information about the benefits and feasibility of shifting to reusables, the U of T Trash Team and TEA have created some resources to help Toronto businesses.
Resources for businesses
We’ve developed some simple flyers about how you can shift your business away from single-use plastics and disposables.
Other resources for businesses
We’ve compiled other relevant information for your business.
Federal Regulations
Regulations and Programs in Toronto:
- City of Toronto Single-Use & Takeaway Items Reduction Program
- Toronto Public Health Guidance
- City of Toronto Guide to Reduce Single-Use & Takeaway Items
- Learn more about what products should go into your garbage and recycling bins
Regulations in other parts of Canada
The benefits of reuse
Compostable/ Biodegradable/ Bioplastic
Report from 5Gyres- Better alternatives now: research to study the long-term fate of plastic alternatives in the environment.
Project Partners
For over 30 years, the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) has campaigned locally to find solutions to Toronto’s urban environmental problems. As a not-for-profit organization, TEA advocates on behalf of all Torontonians for a green, healthy and equitable city. TEA works with concerned individuals, community groups, professionals and workers, encouraging the participation of local people on local issues.
Green Neighbours Network is a grassroots community network of people and groups helping to make neighbourhoods across the City of Toronto and GTA greener, healthier, and more sustainable. GNN recognizes the urgency for global climate action, and our personal roles in it. GNN supports initiatives that promote a fair and just transition to a low-carbon future.
The Enviromentum empowers environmental and social justice change leaders with evidence-based communications practices for cultivating transformation in their communities and growing the capacity for individual self-determination from micro to macro scale. Discover their approach, where science and empathy intersect to inspire eco-friendly choices. Learn about Motivational Interviewing at Enviromentum.org.
Initiated by Toronto Pearson and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), Partners in Project Green (PPG) is a not-for-profit community of leaders advancing environmental action and economic prosperity across the GTA. Comprised of businesses, government, institutions and utilities, PPG works to collectively advance social and environmental sustainability through knowledge sharing, technology and infrastructure implementation, and network building.
The data generated from this project will be used to inform decision-makers as they consider new policies to reduce single-use plastic items.