Go Blue Box Going Strong!

Feb 4, 2013

We can hardly believe it’s been 2.5 months since our reusable takeout container program, Go Blue Box, launched at the University Club in the Michigan Union. Thanks to the hard work of U-Club and Go Blue Box staff, and to the awesome participation of UMich staff, faculty, and students, the program has exceeded expectations and continues to gain steam. Check out a recent article about Go Blue Box in the Michigan Daily.

Let’s look at some of the most interesting numbers coming out of the U-Club…

Participation

  1. 275 people have signed up for the program
  2. 60% of participants are staff, 30% are students/alumni, 7% are faculty, and 3% are from elsewhere around Ann Arbor
  3. At least one new participant has signed up for the program on 41 of the 43 days since the Go Blue Box program went live
  4. 23 Go Blue Box participants have won a free lunch at the U-Club simply for taking their food to-go in a reusable clamshell
  5. 50 new participants signed up for the program and bought lunch at the U-Club during our “Mob the U-Club” event on November 30

Usage

  1. Every day, about 30 participants use a Go Blue Box clamshell – this is about half of the U-Club’s daily to-go customers
  2. Every day, 3 to 4 participants order soup in a Go Blue Box soup container
  3. Our top customer has already used one of our clamshells formore than 30 meals!

Environmental Impact

  1. The program has diverted 1,250 polystyrene or paper clamshells from the landfill in just 2.5 months!
  2. Similarly, program participants have diverted 105 paper soup containers from the landfill in just 2.5 months!

What’s next?

The Go Blue Box team is hard at work thinking of ways to improve the experience and make it easier for participants to pick up, use, and return their Go Blue Box containers. We’re also looking to reduce even more waste by expanding the program to other campus dining facilities.

Stay tuned for more updates from us as the year goes along. For now, we want to thank everyone who has made Go Blue Box happen … you rock!

  • Michelle Dedo, the super awesome manager of the U-Club, and her team
  • DJ and Rohit, our tireless program administrators (i.e. the guys wearing Go Blue Box t-shirts who greet you with a smile every time you stop by the U-Club and want to use the program)
  • Jason, Maria, Aaron, Sam, and Emily, our Environ 391 team of undergrads who helped with marketing and operations planning, and their professor (the supercharged Dr. Mike Shriberg) and GSI (Lindsey McDonald)
  • Laura Seagram and her team of marketers at the University Unions
  • The Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund (PBSIF) team, which continues to make campus sustainability projects possible with support from the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute