HELP SAVE THE WORLD by saying NO to plastic and styrofoam COntainers so we can reduce
the CRAZY amount of waste they produce!
As a sponsor of DFW Restaurant Week we are encouraging all participating restaurants and diners to Go NoCo Loco! as a way to help the environment while dining. It’s easy to do. Just bring your own reusable to-go container, or, use one of the biodegradable containers available at participating restaurants. Ask your friends and favorite restaurants to do the same. Then find out how much plastic waste YOU generate using the calculator below, and pledge to reduce it.
To Go NoCo Loco! means you are willing to
“Go No Containers Crazy” and STOP using so
many plastic and styrofoam to-go containers
and other Plastic Disposables however you can.
WHY are we doing this?
The world is using a CRAZY amount of plastic and styrofoam to-go containers that end up in our oceans and landfills – millions every day! So taking your meal to go has some serious consequences.
Single-use containers make up about 10 percent of all trash and less than 14 percent of it is recycled. Single-use food and beverage packaging is one of the largest contributors to the 269,000 tons of plastic pollution in the rivers and oceans.
How to Go NoCo Loco!
Restaurants
- Offer an incentive to diners who bring their own containers.
- Pledge to use only biodegradable low-impact containers
- Give the option to skip the packaging
- Encourage diners to bring their own reusable containers
- Place table tents and promotional materials in restaurants beginning with DFW Restaurant Week and ongoing
- Serve condiments in bulk – sugar, salt, pepper, ketchup, etc…
- Include Go NoCo Loco messaging in your advertising, publicity and social media.
- Serve a Go NoCo Loco Cocktail
- Offer Re-Usable Containers for sale or on a refundable deposit basis
Diners
- Bring your own To-Go container made of reusable or recyclable materials.
- Use the Go NoCo Loco Personal Plastic Container
- Usage Calculator to determine your current usage and how you can reduce it.
- Pledge to reduce your consumption and choose restaurants that use only low-impact containers.
- Request no disposable containers, napkins, plastic ware, straws or bags wherever possible.
- Pledge to tell others and share the message on social media.
- Join EarthxLeague and learn more about sustainability.
- Minimize use of plastic bags, and recycle them at the grocery store.
How Much PLASTIC Waste Do YOU Generate?
Calculate Your Plastic Use. Then Pledge to Reduce it.
Start with plastic to-go containers – but don’t stop there! See where else you can Go NoCo Loco! to reduce plastic waste. We all contribute to the problem. We can all work to solve it. Use this calculator to determine your plastic waste, and how you can reduce it. Then pledge to do so!
To date, 25 Earthlings who currently use 14,988 single-use plastics per year have pledged to use 7,605 less per year. That reduces their total use to 7,383. Do your part. Make a pledge!
Calculate Your Single-Use Plastic Waste
| Single-Use Plastic Items | Enter the Number You Use Per WEEK | The Number You Use Per YEAR is: | How Many Less Can You Use Per WEEK? | Your Reduced Usage Per YEAR Would Be: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{ x.name }} | {{ x.number*x.amount }} | {{ x.reducedAmount*x.reducedTotal }} | ||
| YOUR TOTAL | {{ calculator.data | dataNumber: 'number' }} | {{ calculator.data | dataAmount: 'amount' }} | {{ calculator.data | dataReducedAmount: 'reducedAmount' }} | {{ calculator.data | dataReducedTotal: 'reducedTotal' }} |
| CUMULATIVE TOTAL | 288 | 14,988 | 145 | 7,605 |
Pledge to Reduce Your Single-Use Plastic Waste
To date, 25 Earthlings who currently use 14,988 single-use plastics per year have pledged to use 7,605 less per year. That reduces their total use to 7,383. Do your part. Make a pledge!
Close X
What!?! Tons of PLASTIC Trash In Our Oceans?
Unfortunately, yes. Years of poor waste management has led to a major plastic waste pollution crisis that threatens all of the world’s oceans. There are several massive flotillas of plastic debris that cover enormous areas of the ocean around the world. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch between California and Hawaii is nearly the size of the state of Texas. Sea life that eats or gets caught in plastic debris can be injured, killed or maimed. Plastic that is consumed by sea creatures, as well as toxins they absorb from them, can accumulate in the food chain and make seafood potentially harmful for human consumption. If we work together we can solve this problem and save the oceans for future generations.
Yikes! The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Nearly as Big as the Great State of Texas?!?!
Yeah, buddy. It’s sad but true. 275 million metric tons of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, with nearly 12.7 million metric tons entering the ocean and forming gigantic floating islands of plastic trash and debris. That’s why we’re asking restaurants and their patrons to say NO to plastic and styrofoam COntainers, and work toward a goal of using only low-impact options made from biodegradable or reusable materials by the time we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2020.
How BIG is the Problem?
Source: EPA
Plastic and styrofoam packaging products include polyethylene terephthalate (PET) soft drink and water bottles, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) milk and water jugs, film products (including bags and sacks) made of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and other containers and packaging (including clamshells, trays, caps, lids, egg cartons, loose fill, produce baskets, coatings and closures) made up of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and other resins. The EPA estimates that 14.7 million tons of plastic containers and packaging were generated in 2015. Overall, the amount of recycled plastic containers and packaging in 2015 was 2.2 million tons or 14.6 percent of plastic containers and packaging generated. Additionally, about 16.8 percent of the plastic containers and packaging waste generated was combusted with energy recovery, while the remainder (68.6 percent) ended up in landfills, rivers, lakes or oceans.
The data below are from 1960 to 2015, relating to the total number of tons of plastic containers and packaging generated, recycled, composted, combusted with energy recovery and landfilled.
Campaign Materials
We've designed some spiffy campaign materials for restaurants to promote their efforts to Go NoCo Loco! Click the button below to download assets including Logos, Container Stickers, Table Tents, Menu Stickers, Window Decals, T-Shirt art, Web Banners, and more.