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Walpole schools pilot Redish reusable-dish program; district reports thousands of disposables diverted
Summary
Walpole Public Schools partnered with Redish to replace single-use plates and trays with a reusable service. School and company officials said the daily pilot is diverting thousands of items and reached about 70% participation in participating schools.
Walpole Public Schools rolled out a pilot reusable-dish program with Redish that district and company officials said has already diverted thousands of single-use plates and trays from the waste stream.
The pilot was described at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Reduce and Reuse Working Group meeting on Jan. 22, where Caroline Vanderlip, founder and CEO of Redish, and Maria Hall, director of school nutrition for Walpole Public Schools, summarized the program and early results.
Maria Hall said the district began a phased launch in December after completing contractual details and staff coordination. “We rolled out in December,” Hall said. “At the middle school, we’re doing 600 plates. At the elementary school, we’re doing 500 trays. We have about a 70% participation rate in all our schools right now.”
Hall said the pilot replaces paper plates and single-use trays with Redish-supplied reusable plates and trays that the company picks up, industrially washes and returns. She said the district’s central kitchen supports the rollout because hot food…
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