Retail Reuse
A reusable packaging pilot.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Retail Reuse pilot throughout 2023!
We are nearing the end of the pilot, which will conclude on March 22, 2024. The grant team will then analyze the results of the study and will report on the outcomes and opportunities for future reuse programs.
Please ensure that you return any items with a “Retail Reuse” sticker before March 22, 2024, so they can be included in our feasibility study.
Bold Reuse is grateful to our grant partners including New Seasons Market, Waste-Free Advocates, Hannah Kullberg, Ground Up, Hot Mama’s Salsa, Sibeho, Sauvie’s Shrubs, and Mickelberry Honey.
We'd love your feedback!
Your feedback is important! Please take a few minutes to take this survey if you’ve participated in our Retail Reuse program.
Buy. Return. Reuse.
Save your empty jars from participating local brands and return them to a Bold Reuse drop box at any New Seasons store for reuse.
How It Works
FAQS
This process gives new life to a jar without going through the recycling process. Instead of breaking the product down and using the raw materials to create new glass, we’re just cleaning, sanitizing and refilling these jars. We’re excited to extend their life even longer before these glass jars need to take on a new form!
We’ll pick up your returned jars and bring them back to our warehouse, where the cleaning part of the reuse journey begins! If needed, we’ll tuck them into a warm bath of water to loosen any food residue and then they’ll be thoroughly washed, sanitized and dried before heading right back to the food vendor you purchased it from (think Ground Up or Hot Mama’s Salsa).
You can return empty jars from the following local food producers:
- Ground Up
- Sibeiho
- Mickleberry Gardens
- Sauvie Shrubs
- Hot Mama’s Salsas
Not yet, but if you’d like to see another local brand in this pilot, send us an email with your suggestion to [email protected] and we’ll see what we can do!
Not at this time. For now, we can only clean and reuse the jars but the lids can still be returned!
Not a thing! This has been made possible by a groundbreaking grant, graciously provided by Metro’s Investment and Innovation Department. We are forever grateful for their excitement and support in this experiment to reduce our waste!
We’re a Portland-based, women-owned and operated start up on a mission to end single-use waste by making reusable packaging easy for everybody. Want to know more? Check out our About page or get in touch with us here [email protected]. PS: We’re also Oregon Entrepreneurs Network Award Winners!
We thoroughly clean and sanitize the jars in our cleaning facility, but we’d appreciate it if you rinse the jars out to remove any food residue before returning them.
Please do NOT run jars through a dishwasher. Thank you!
Yes! Bold Reuse is taking care of the washing and sanitizing of the jars. Bold Reuse has been trailblazing the reusables movement in Portland since 2011. You might know us from our work with the Moda Center or at our amazing local restaurant partners like Fermenter.
Everybody, we hope! Here’s how we see it – we’re benefiting from this incredible learning opportunity about reusables in a local economy. Our amazing food partners are benefiting by reducing their carbon footprints, emissions and saving money on packaging, while you and mama earth are benefiting because we’re keeping more and more jars in use, diverting them away from landfills and making sure they don’t end up as pollutants in our streams, waterways and public spaces.
You can return your jars all year! We’ll be collecting them all through 2023.
Glad you asked! The grant was provided by Metro. The team behind this daring project is a glorious mix of folks from Bold Reuse, New Seasons Market with support from Waste Free Advocates and Pacific Northwest Food and Beverage Group. Learn more about the pilot here.
Absolutely you can! Our main aim here is to keep as many jars in use as possible, so don’t let a little thing like a lost sticker keep you away!
If you are a brand or know of one that is interested in being part of the Retail Reuse program please contact us at [email protected]
Participating Brands
