Saving the environment is the main raisons d’être of the MUSTreusables system.  However, its implementation also delivers significant cost saving for businesses:

• MUSTreusables reduces at least 80% of the typical container cost incurred by a restaurant. In a simple case where a container cost $1 each, a new QR coded label cost $1, reusing the container 10 times will save $8, or 80% of the procurement cost for takeout containers.
• What if container is not returned for reuse for at least 10 times? In this case customers (not restaurants) will bear the cost of a takeout container, deposit is only refunded when customers return the container for reuse.

Other benefits from the reuse economy includes:

• Big saving on waste of material resources and manufacturing energy created by any single-use program, including compostable items.
• Saving on waste management costs, a US study indicates that reusables eliminates 1300 to 2200 lbs of waste (110,000 to 225,000 disposable items) for an average restaurant
• Reduced litter cleanup cost incurred by the local communities.

Since MUSTreusables solution is designed to help businesses reuse their own containers, restaurants will continue to select the types of container that suit them the most.  Many businesses convert their current containers into reusables to directly benefit from the huge cost saving.  To address the up coming government ban of some container materials, there are 2 scenarios to be considered:

• If the materials of your current containers ARE NOT scientifically identified as problematic (In Canada problematic materials would be black, oxo-degradable, PVC, multi-materials plastic, or Styrofoam), then you are ready to make your current containers reusable with MUSTreusables labels and enjoy a huge cost saving.
• If the materials of your current containers ARE AFFECTED BY THE BAN, the huge cost saving from MUSTreusables solution will help you switching over to a new government approved container material. In most cases you will lower your current packaging cost with the implementation of MUST Reusables, since the real cost in a reuse (or circular) economy is determined by the ratio of “up front container procurement cost” divided by the “number of reuse cycles” achievable with the new container material.

Once deployed on a selected type of container, the system will keep track of the number of reuse cycles that a container reaches at the end of its life to rank the container reusability versus its initial cost.  Better and pricier containers (e g., made from 100% recyclable material and/or designed with innovative features) become affordable in a reuse (or circular) economy.

Based on each material environmental footprint, the system will help identify the best types of sustainable containers for the long run.  This is how we select containers for our future product offering to the foodservice industry.

Businesses can also adjust the required deposit amounts for each type of reusable containers to test customer participation in the return-for-reuse program. 

The system allows restaurants to evaluate and establish a number of standard containers in order to buy containers in larger quantities at lower cost.  Businesses can team up with each other to accept container return for all of them, and customer service will be improved by having more container drop off locations.  MUSTreusables system will keep a tally of the number of containers returned back at each restaurant so that container redistribution can be arranged accordingly.