An Eco-friendly Idea: Bring Your Own Carry Out Container

Today we had lunch from Zoes Kitchen near 16th and Camelback here in Phoenix. I had to rush and grab carrry out because Ashley had a coaches training event to run for her non-profit organization: Girls on the Run of Maricopa County After I brought it back and we finished eating I was ashamed of the Styrofoam we had to throw away. Then the thought occurred to me, why couldn’t we customers bring our own containers for restaurants to use instead of the standard Styrofoam? Is there currently a movement for this kind of thing? Are there any restaurants that currently offer this ‘bring your own carry-out boxes’ service? I imagine there may be in my old uber-hippie neck of the woods in Seattle, WA or someplace like Boulder, CO but I haven’t heard of them.

I can think of a handful of issues this might pose for restaurants and customers alike but most or all of those could be solved by simply maintaining a Styrofoam inventory as a backup. Anyone want to start a movement? My next stop: a close look at Earth911.org