Madison Square Park comes alive at lunchtime. Each day neighbors meet for coffee, friends catch up over a meal, and workers stop by to enjoy the fresh air while grabbing a quick bite before returning to the office. Our neighborhood is lucky to have so many great grab-and-go restaurants that allow these moments to happen. 

While grab-and-go restaurants offer tasty, affordable, and often healthy options without the wait, they greatly contribute to the over 800 pounds of waste collected in the park each day. At lunchtime, we see our trash bins filled with single-use containers, cups, utensils, straws, bags, and napkins. This waste is costly and difficult for the park team to manage, and can harm the park’s plants and wildlife. 

That’s why the Conservancy is committed to decreasing single-use waste. In working towards this goal, we’re partnering with Re: Dish, a reusable container company that supplies eateries with dishes and cups that can be used over and over again. Re: Dish collects, cleans, and sanitizes used containers before redistributing them—ensuring that containers are used many times, and eliminating the need for disposable, single-use containers. 

You can test out a Re: Dish container and learn just how easy it can be to reduce single-use waste in your life at Madison Square Park’s Pollinator Picnic event on Saturday, May 21. Participating restaurants will be offering pollinator-inspired picnic lunches, pre-packaged in a Re: Dish container, so you can enjoy your lunch at the event and drop your used bowl in a designated bin in the park afterwards. We hope to see you there!

(Photo by Rashmi Gill)