Eat Plastic Free PDX combines two of my passions: delicious food and environmental sustainability. The idea for this website was born when we got delivery from a restaurant and were taken aback when we received all of our food in plastic take-out containers. Currently most plastic doesn’t get recycled and ends up in the landfill, so while we try to rehome or reuse those containers (love our Buy Nothing group!), we try to choose restaurants that use less wasteful packaging in the first place. I’m sure we’re not the only people who have this concern, so I thought I would start a resource for Portlanders to be able to easily find those restaurants!
I’m aware that there are likely very few true “plastic free” options as paper containers typically have a plastic lining or some liquid items are served in paper containers with plastic lids, but my aim is to list restaurants that are doing their best to reduce waste. Some places might offer non-plastic options except for things like soup, and I’ll try to identify the exceptions. I’ve seen “messy foods” offered in foil-lined paper containers (rinsed foil is recyclable), so there are alternatives to plastic! There is also a growing list of restaurants that use Go Box, a container re-use program. This street roots article from June 2020 is a good summary of the current Portland takeout waste situation.
I hope that this website is a useful resource to help reduce the amount of plastic waste in your life while continuing to enjoy restaurant food in Portland. Please contact me if you have any new businesses to add to my list or corrections to be made!