Tackling takeout waste: Montrealers bring their own containers to restaurants

Montreal resident Karen Sherman has a backpack full of plastic containers and a portable coffee mug — all ready to be filled with takeout orders or restaurant leftovers.

"I often bring this with me when I am roving the neighbourhood, looking for a takeout place," Sherman told CBC Montreal's Daybreak Tuesday.

Sherman, who lives in Snowdon, is one of a growing number of Canadians who have joined in the effort to ditch disposable takeout boxes, plastic flatware and paper cups.

That effort even has a name: BYOC or bring your own container.

She totes around plastic containers of similar size to the foam boxes provided by takeout places.

When Sherman shows restaurant staff her portable selection of reusable containers, they usually see they are of appropriate size and load them up with the normal meal portions without too much complaint.

She's never been refused, but sometimes staff do grumble about weighing portions out and, if they argue that the container is too big, she asks them to charge a bit more to fill it up.

She's had more trouble filling her mug with smoothies or hot drinks then she has her plastic containers, she said.

Sherman estimates that she has prevented more than 100 disposable containers a year from ending up in a landfill.

Some places have gotten to know her and are ready to fill her personal containers.

"It saves them money too," she said. "They don't need to buy Styrofoam containers and everybody is happy."

Discounts for those who BYOC 

Some Montreal restaurants are supporting the BYOC movement by offering customers discounts on their meals if they bring in their own containers.

La Panthère Verte is a Montreal chain of vegan restaurants that charges 15 to 50 cents extra for its compostable takeout containers while offering the same in discounts to those that bring their own.

"We encourage customers to bring their own containers," explained Gabrielle Campeau, manager of La Panthère Verte on St-Viateur Street East.

In addition to the discounts, she said, the restaurant also offers smoothies and juices in mason jars. People pay a one-dollar deposit on the jars and they can either return it for the money or keep it to use at home.

The restaurant chain also advertises no-waste grocery shopping where, also known as zero-waste shopping, customers can bring home products such as granola, beans and rice home in mason jars.

The trend has been catching on in recent years, but not every store is on board.

Last year, a Loblaw spokesperson told CBC that it has a Canada-wide policy restricting customers to the store's disposable containers when shopping at the deli or meat counter.

In a statement, the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which is responsible for food safety in the province, said stores can allow customers to fill their own containers as long as employees follow a certain protocol to avoid cross-contamination.

That protocol includes washing their hands and cleaning both the container and any surfaces it has touched. 

Regardless of the rules, Campeau said reusable containers work fine at her restaurant.

Regular customers, she said, are more inclined to bring their own containers after a few visits. The food they take is already portion-controlled, making it easy to load the containers up with food no matter if the containers are too big.

"The mason jars work quite well," she told Daybreak.

"The containers, honestly, not a lot of people bring them. Customers like Karen are our favourite customers because we would love if more people did bring their own containers."

Based on research from Daybreak's Rebecca Ugolini