LCA Community Reusable Dishware

Latino Community Association used the Community Innovation Fund in 2022 to purchase reusable food and drinkware for their Community Room. The space gets rented at least 3x a week for events where food and drink is served and saves about 100-200 items of related single-use waste for each event.

Additional information on project implementation

Making it happen:

• LCA purchased more than 100 plates, 80 bowls, 110 cups, and utensils in 2022
• Started using the reusable dishware for events starting in July of 2022
• Made it available to the community partners they share their office with, Central Oregon Health Council and Restorative Justice and Equity
• LCA also made it available to the Latino Population who rents their community room.  The room holds up to 80 people and gets rented at least three weekends a month.

Lessons learned: The overall project was set up successful and with minimum challenges. The main lesson learned was that choosing the design, color and type of dishware to buy took much longer that anticipated. They wanted to make sure the dishes were accessible to everyone, so they went through a process of surveying LCA staff and community members.