ReThink Disposable is the practical end of the reuse movement. Its Zero Waste Specialists go into restaurants, look at what is bought and thrown away, cost out the switch to reusables for dine-in service, and then help the kitchen make it. There is no charge to the restaurant. The programme is run by Clean Water Action and its sister organisation Clean Water Fund, and operates in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
What a restaurant gets
- A cost analysis: what the kitchen spends on disposables each year, against what durable replacements and washing would cost.
- Technical help choosing products that suit the service style, drawing on the purchasing guide the programme wrote with Surfrider in 2024.
- Help with the switch itself, and a published case study afterwards.
What the case studies show
The savings are specific and public. World Gourmet in Fremont, California, saves about $3,500 a year after switching its dine-in service. Falafel, Etc. saves $11,779 a year. The programme's newest posts, as of September 2026, are on its site, and each case study lists the items replaced and the waste avoided.
Beyond the restaurant
ReThink Disposable also works with cities and counties on foodware ordinances and reusable-foodware programmes of the kind described elsewhere in this section. If you are in one of its seven states, start on its page. If you are not, the purchasing guide below and the Upstream library are the next best thing, and Plastic Free America's subsidy has no stated geographic limit.