The initiative aims to promote sustainability and environmental consciousness on campus
By RACHEL TRAN — campus@theaggie.org
The ASUCD Coffee House (CoHo) recently introduced a new reusable to-go container system at their food service stalls, in hopes of making their operations more sustainable. The program was launched in partnership with food container company Friendlier — containers are now available with purchases at Cooks, Ciao, TxMx Grill, Chickpea and Fickle Pickle Deli.
When purchasing a meal served in these containers, students pay a 50 cent deposit and receive a sky-blue container made from organic fibers. Each container is reusable up to 100 times, and includes a QR code on its bottom that takes students to the Friendlier app. Through this app, students can earn their deposit back within one to two weeks.
Students can also choose to give their deposit forward as a donation, namely to the ASUCD Pantry, before clearing the container and putting it into the collection bins located across the CoHo. The bins are later brought to Friendlier’s facility in West Sacramento, where the containers are sanitized and cleaned before they are sent out for reuse.
Associated Students Dining Services (ASDS) Foodservice Director Darin Schluep said that the CoHo is piloting the program for six months, with only 20% of their current menu offerings using the reusable packaging.
“We are hoping we will see a reduction in our single-use packaging impact on the waste stream,” Schluep said. “After the six months, we may determine [that] we can expand to more items or look at other locations to add more of this packaging. It really depends on the acceptance rate for the consumers and what kind of feedback we get on the program.”
Friendlier was founded in 2020 by University of Waterloo graduates Kayli Smith and Jacqueline Hanton, who examined how individuals can make a positive impact on climate change on a daily basis.
“Small individual actions actually add up,” Friendlier Director of Customer Success Derek Vollebregt said. “It has been really cool to talk to all the different students and staff about their excitement. It may seem like a small action, but added up, it contributes quite a bit. We’re excited for all the support across campus that we’re seeing.”
UC Davis expects that 2,500 containers will be used per week; if half of the containers provided to UC Davis are reused over the six month pilot period, it would mean 30,000 containers avoid going to the landfill, according to Vollebregt. He estimates that the emissions from those containers would be the same as driving a gas-powered car from Los Angeles to New York six times.
UC Davis was recently ranked No. 1 for campus sustainability in the United States for the 10th year in a row, and No. 7 internationally for its 13th year, in the 2025 UI Green Metric World University Rankings. Friendlier’s leaders presented their packaging as a way for UC Davis to bring further environmental consciousness to its food operations.
“UC Davis has long been a sustainability leader, and we’re thrilled to help fuel their next chapter,” Smith told UC Davis Dateline. “Our goal is to make reuse simple and accessible for students, and we are excited to work alongside a campus that shares this commitment.”
The Friendlier app also tracks each student’s overall impact on the environment, especially in terms of how much carbon dioxide emissions they’ve saved and how much plastic waste they’ve helped reduce.
“This project helps continue our role as a leader in sustainable food service,” Schluep said. “It helps us accomplish some of the objectives of the [University of California (UC)] Office of the President, and the whole UC system wants to see a move away from single-use containers to more reusable packaging.”
While the program has some drawbacks as customers adjust, CoHo cashier Yujia Liu, a third-year human development major, shared her opinion on the initiative.
“It is a little bit of a hassle to download the app,” Liu said. “I do like the idea of reusing these packing containers though. It’s a lot more environmentally conscious and is helpful in terms of reducing the amount of plastic we use.”
The new program comes alongside other changes to the CoHo this quarter. New decals in the CoHo market area and some updated signage were installed over break, as construction and renovation on the CoHo’s West Addition continues.
Written by: Rachel Tran — campus@theaggie.org
