Powderface—Local Coffee Shop
Dine-in reusable foodware saves $3,000 annually.
Located in Oakland's Fruitvale Village, Powderface is a small café offering both take-out and dine-in service. They serve coffee, smoothies and other hot and cold beverages, sandwiches, crepes as well as southern-style beignets. They converted to 100% reusable foodware items for their dine-in customers, with the help of a Reusable Foodware Mini-Grant from StopWaste. The shift is projected to prevent over 77,000 disposable items (over 1,500 pounds) and save the café $3,000 annually.
Paramount Theater—Large Entertainment Venue
Reusable cup system cuts waste management service costs by half.
The Paramount Theatre in Oakland is a historic Art Deco concert hall with over 3,000 seats. It hosts concerts, films, and performing arts events and is the home of the Oakland Symphony and Oakland Ballet. Working with r.World, a third-party reusable cup system provider, the Paramount transitioned from disposable to 100% reusable beverage cups for event refreshments. A Reusable Foodware grant from StopWaste supported the conversion that has enabled the venue to reduce their discard collection service volume and cost by half.
Large venue interested in switching to Reusables? Contact Ben Duggan, bduggan@stopwaste.org.
Hogar Latino Restaurante—Bakery & Restaurant
Dine-in reusable foodware saves $3,000 annually.
Hogar Latino Panadería y Restaurant is a neighborhood spot in Oakland serving Honduran and Salvadoran food, including what many consider some of the best tamales, juices and frozen treats in the city. With the help of a Reusable Foodware Mini-Grant from StopWaste, they converted from disposable plastic and paper cups and plastic utensils to reusable tumblers, mugs and real silverware for their dine-in customers. The shift is projected to prevent over 26,000 disposable items and save the restaurant over $3,000 annually.
Cragmont Elementary, Berkeley—Public School
Stainless-steel lunch trays prevent 100,000 single-use disposables annually.
Cragmont Elementary School in the Berkeley Unified School District serves 155 lunches each day, 180 days a year. They replaced disposable molded fiber trays, plastic spork packets and paper cups with stainless steel trays, forks and cups. The reusable foodware, purchased partially with a grant from StopWaste, is washed in Cragmont’s existing on-site dish washing machine, with minimal additional labor. The change prevents 100,000 single-use items and saves the school $500 annually in avoided foodware purchases and reduced waste collection costs.
Hang Ten Boiler—Seafood Restaurant
Dine-in reusable foodware saves $4,000 a year
Hang Ten Boiler is a popular spot in Alameda known for their delicious Hawaiian, Asian fusion and Cajun seafood dishes, including boil-in-a-bag options with crab, crawfish and shrimp. With the help of StopWaste's Reusable Mini-grant, they converted from an almost entirely disposable operation to reusable tumblers, plates, bowls, silverware, and sauce cups for their dine-in customers. The shift is projected to prevent over 318,000 disposable items (over 7,500 pounds) and save the restaurant nearly $4,000 annually.
Julie's Coffee and Tea Garden, Alameda, CA
Key Takeaways
Businesses that switch to reusables typically see:
- Cost savings of $2,000–$4,000+ per year on packaging
- Waste reduction of 40,000–100,000+ disposable items annually
- Customer support — diners appreciate the improved dining experience & sustainable practices
Ready to Get Started?
StopWaste provides up to $500 in reusable foodware plus free hands-on support for qualifying businesses.