Forever Ware Interviews Live on The Weather Channel
Forever Ware CEO, Natasha Gaffer, interviews live with Lynette Charles and Stephanie Abrams on the Weather Channel's Pattrn: our planet, our future.
Transcript
Lynette: Welcome back to pattrn. A team of software Engineers is preaching the perks of reusable takeout containers. Inspiration for the company was sparked after one of the engineers spotted mounds of disposable plastic containers washed up along the shores of Guyana.
Stephanie: The CEO of Forever Ware, Natasha Gaffer, joins us live to tell us more about this idea. Natasha, I've been waiting all hours for this story. How exactly does Forever Ware work?
Natasha: Hey Stephanie and Lynette, thanks so much for having me. So, we are a city-wide reuse platform that enables cafes to offer reusable packaging. Think reusable takeout boxes, kegs, growlers, travel coffee mugs and they basically get checked out like library books and then returned by consumers to any self-returned station in our network. The great part is we've made it really simple for consumers to participate. With these types of programs, we typically see that consumers have to download an app, pick a plan, enter a credit card and we've eliminated the need to do all of this by giving businesses the tools that they need to make the customer experience really easy.
“With these types of reuse programs, we typically see that consumers have to download an app, pick a plan, enter a credit card and we've eliminated the need to do all of this.” Natasha Gaffer, Forever Ware CEO
Lynette: Okay, so you had me at 'checked out like library books'. Okay, so is there a penalty if they don't bring the books back? Yeah or the Forever Ware back?
Natasha: Consumers pay a five dollar deposit upfront which is simply an incentive to get them to return them.
Stephanie: Five bucks is nothing! I mean exactly, I think you need to up that number. What city are you doing this in?
Natasha: We are headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota but we are available to Food Service businesses in every state in the United States. We have a presence in Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and we're not just for restaurants either, we can work with universities, corporate cafeterias, food halls, ghost kitchens and the only requirement to participate is just that the business have a commercial kitchen and a Wi-Fi connection. Because our participating businesses wash the reusable takeaway containers on-site at their business, all they really need is that commercial dishwasher or three-compartment sink just like they wash dining plates and cups. So any business or city can get started today using their existing infrastructure and we send out a prepackaged kit along with online resources including everything that they need to get started.
“We are available to Food Service businesses in every state in the United States. We can work with universities, corporate cafeterias, food halls, ghost kitchens and so on. The only requirement to participate is that the business have a commercial kitchen and a Wi-Fi connection.” Natasha Gaffer, Forever Ware CEO
Lynette: That's really cool! So tell us about the ultimate mission of Forever Ware and how it grew to be the company it is now.
Natasha: So I just really love takeout. I'm one of those people that live to eat rather than eat to live. I'm constantly getting takeout. But there are a few things that I don't love and one of those things came to light when I was traveling. Like you said, seeing the trash on the beach and after that trip the more people that I talk to the more I realized that this is a common story happening all over the world to see that trash on the beach. So we saw COVID supercharge the world's takeout habit and my co-founders Nolan, Nick and I thought this is just going to be a great opportunity to solve our plastic waste problem and it definitely is that but it kind of turned into something much bigger. So like me, you may not have known that disposable packaging contains harmful PFAS chemicals and microplastics that migrate from packaging into our meals and they persist virtually forever in our bodies and more broadly in the environment and our drinking water. So this is bad because the Environmental Protection Agency links these toxins to infertility and cancer and we're hearing similar information from the Minnesota Pollution Control agency, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the federal government. Thankfully, Forever Ware offers reuse as a solution and lifecycle assessments are showing that reuse beats single use in every environmental metric including greenhouse gas emissions, global warming potential, water consumption, resource extraction, waste generation, Everything.
“You may not have known that disposable packaging contains harmful PFAS chemicals and microplastics that migrate from packaging into our meals and they persist virtually forever in our bodies and more broadly in the environment and our drinking water.” Natasha Gaffer, Forever Ware CEO
Stephanie: I can't imagine that it doesn't help literally all of them. I want to ask you, if I want to, maybe, go to one of these takeout places that are using this reusable takeout, is there somewhere I can go? Like if I'm in a city and, say, okay let me find out where I can go to use this product?
Natasha: Visit foreverware.org. We have a partners map listed on the website where you can see all of the businesses in your area and you simply walk up to the counter or order online and ask for reusable packaging and your Barista or staff will take care of it for you.
“Any business or city can get started today using their existing infrastructure and we send out a prepackaged kit along with online resources including everything that they need to get started.” Natasha Gaffer, Forever Ware CEO
Lynette: It's so easy. Yes! Yeah, so thank you so much. We'd like to thank Natasha Gaffer, Forever Ware CEO, for joining us today. Yeah I'm going to that website right away and no matter what city I travel just to try to use that.