Green Tip of the Day

Use your reusable grocery store bag at restaurants to cart home leftovers and when picking up take-out orders. In addition to bags, add other items to the bring-your-own repertoire like coffee mugs. Starbucks, for example, offers a financial incentive (a 10-cent discount) for supplying your own. Coffee lovers apparently are taking advantage of that approach: according to a Starbucks spokeswoman, customers in 2007 supplied their own beverage mugs almost 20 million times.

If you enjoy take-out regularly from specific places, ask those restaurant owners if they’d stock reusable to-go containers, such as glass or stainless steel. Tell them you’ll return the container when you’re back for another dinner. It’s sort of a library approach to packaging. You drop off the used containers and pick up fresh ones packed with food each time you go. The advantage to the restaurant is reduced costs on disposable packaging and loyalty of regular diners.

If the restaurant doesn’t like the idea of reusable containers, bring your own. Some eco-minded restaurant-goers tote around personal food storage containers to wrap up their leftovers and also use them for take-out items - just make sure the restaurant agrees to use them.