NYC Food Businesses That Are Going Zero Waste

In 2015, the then New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, publicly announced to much skepticism that he envisioned that the entire city would produce zero waste by the year 2030. While many NYC residents laughed at the ambitious idea, three businesses took the challenge seriously and made it their personal mission to achieve a zero waste business model much sooner than the citywide goal of 2030. Below are three NYC food businesses that have a zero waste mission.

IXV Coffee

As we all know, disposable coffee cups are a huge trash problem worldwide. Thankfully, IXV Coffee will be one of the first coffee shops in the United States to serve coffee in completely reusable cups. While they haven’t launched the idea yet, it is set to go live within the next year or two. If one of their patrons does not have a reusable cup that the shop can fill, then they can either buy one or instead buy a paper cup that will come with a surcharge that will cover its recycling fees.

Just Salad

This well-known New York City salad chain caters mostly to a vegan audience. They provide vegans with edibles such as delicious and crisp produce throughout the city. Their staple products are the convenient $1 salad bowls that are completely reusable. Another interesting and unique idea that has made Just Salad one of the highest-rated food servers in the city is the fact that they sell all their food in reusable dishes. While the company does still produce a minimal amount of annual waste, they are on track to becoming a totally waste-free company by the year 2022.

Precycle Grocery Store

This unique grocery store mostly sells products that do not possess the traditional packaging we are used to. For products that do possess packaging or labeling, these materials must be 100 percent compostable if they are to be stocked at Precycle. The company has only been in business for a few months, however, the store is already an absolute hit and is seeing customers come from across state lines or from out of the country just to purchase goods at their store.