<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4Ww0j9_1GoG76BD00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4Ww0j9_1GoG76BD00" width="1000" height="750" ><figcaption>Collins Eatery is seen Nov. 3, 2026, in Bloomington. Ken Field, the director of residential dining, introduced the program in August 2023. Photo by Sofía Rodríguez / The Indiana Daily Student</figcaption></figure>Indiana University took steps towards a more eco-friendly campus through the ReUse Pass container program. The free program is owned by a company called Topanga and allows students to reduce resource consumption by checking out and returning reusable to-go containers, according to the company’s website.Ken Field, the director of residential dining, introduced the program to IU Bloomington in August 2023. “I’ve always enjoyed trying to help others and trying to look for ways that we can be more efficient and more good stewards, I guess, of the meal plans and the dollars and the food that we prepare so we’re not just wasting,” Field said.Field got the idea for reusable to-go containers after meeting with other Big Ten dining teams. He modeled the ReUse Pass plan after Ohio State and Michigan State offerings, Field said. Ohio State also uses the ReUse Pass program, while Michigan State uses a similar reusable container. As of fall 2026, Collins Eatery is the only dining option on campus that offers these reusable boxes for students. The program’s website compared the system to checking out a library book. On the first visit, students scan a QR code upon entering the dining location to sign up for the program, then a staff member scans a QR code on the reusable box — reserving the box under that students’ name. After first signing up for the program, students receive their own QR code in their phone’s virtual wallet for an easier checkout in the future. After using the containers, students must return them to a bin outside of the dining area, where they then get scanned back in and cleaned for reuse. Students can have up to three boxes checked out at once, Field said, but must return each box within three days. After three days, students will receive a text reminder to return the box. “We have a 99% return rate on our containers,” Field said. “Students did a great job, and we were very happy with it.”Field said he first ran the program past his boss, IU Dining’s Executive Director Rahul Shrivastav. The two and IU Dining’s finance department worked with Kelley School of Business students who modeled the costs and returns, Field said.“The thing about the containers, there’s a payback on this that saves us money,” Field said.Each container costs approximately five dollars, Field said. Many of the containers have been checked out around 49-79 times. The single-use containers cost approximately 33 cents, Field said. Therefore, 49 single-use containers would cost $16.17, and 79 would cost $26.07.“We thought Collins was a great place because their student body is very passionate about, you know, sustainability and student initiatives and things like that, so they were very quick to adopt it,” Field said. SustainCollins is a living-learning program within the Collins Living-Learning Center, dedicated to sustainability and is located in the Collins Residence Center. The program was created in partnership with the Collins Living-Learning Center, the Environment, Society and Sustainability Institute and the Office of Sustainability. Field said sustainability at IU is a continuous process. Each year is a new challenge on if incoming students will adopt environmentally-focused programs like ReUse, Field said.Kaylee Headley, a part-time hourly manager at Collins, said that the eatery has a good system with the containers.Headley said around 50-60 students use the reusable containers while she’s on shift. The rest of the students scanning into the eatery use the single-use compostable cardboard carryout boxes.“I think if we were able to spread (the program) through more buildings, it would encourage students to use it more,” Headley said. The cleaning process requires the person washing dishes to scan each box back in with a smartphone — similar to how they were originally checked out — then run it through a dishwasher and place it on a metal drying rack, Headley said.She said the eatery has become efficient at cleaning and getting the containers back out for use.“It is a little extra time, but I do think that it’s worth it,” Headley said. Spring registration has begun, and students at Indiana University are choosing classes and creating their schedules for the coming semester. Dylan Zimmerman — general manager of IU Dining and Hospitality — said the Collins Eatery kitchen space is very limited, which is why the dining team decided on containers that easily fit into a backpack and take up less space in the dining locations. Introducing the containers did not require any infrastructure changes, Zimmerman said. All they had to do was allocate proper storage space for the containers. “It's an extra step, but that extra step, when talked about from a sustainability standpoint, not only helps our environment, it helps us look at how much waste we’re producing for landfills, even though the boxes that we use are a compostable item,” Zimmerman said. Junior Lewis Stine has been going to Collins Eatery since their freshman year, they said. Now, Stine has a meal plan and frequents Collins when on campus. “I am interested in reducing, you know, my waste and with having a carryout location you do produce a lot of waste with those really bulky cardboard containers,” Stine said. Stine said the program was pushed very heavily their freshman year, which convinced them to add the extra step into their routine. “The one thing that I think could be improved is that it doesn’t get pushed as much as it used to get pushed,” Stine said. “The automatic assumption is that people are going to want the disposable, but I also think that’s just kind of a cultural thing of like the convenience.”According to an IU Dining ReUse Pass report, IU has saved 139,432 gallons of water and diverted 21,740 pounds of waste since it started the program in August 2023.“To my knowledge, I feel it’s fairly successful with what we’re doing in the space,” Zimmerman said.</div></body>

Block Source: Indiana Daily Student

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Indiana University took steps towards a more eco-friendly campus through the ReUse Pass container program. The free program is owned by a company called Topanga and allows students to reduce resource consumption by checking out and returning reusable to-go containers, according to the company’s website. Ken Field, the director...

IU’s ReUse Pass container program: Where it’s at after 3 years

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Indiana University took steps towards a more eco-friendly campus through the ReUse Pass container program. The free program is owned by a company called To

IU’s ReUse Pass container program: Where it’s at after 3 years

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