BORDER businesses are going green as environmental campaigns take hold across the country.
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Albury eatery Get Tossed Salad Bar owner Cheryl Cornish introduced stainless-steel bowls for takeaway meals in March.
Ms Cornish said she opted into the Returnr system after reading about it in The Age.
"In my first three months I reduced plastic packaging waste by one-third," she said.
"I like to make my environmental footprint smaller but it also makes good business sense too.
Launched by KeepCup co-founder Jamie Forsyth in Melbourne late last year, Returnr has diverted 85,000 single-use plastic bowls from consumption and landfill.
Customers pay a $6 deposit, redeemable once the packaging is returned to any partner restaurant within the network.
Get Tossed Salad Bar was the first Border eatery to offer the service.
OTHER LIFESTYLE NEWS:
Ms Cornish said she recycled all of their green waste and offered paper straws, bamboo cutlery and stainless steel spoons for soup, the latter could be returned.
"There has been a big change in people's attitudes towards plastic, particularly in the past six months," Ms Cornish said.
"It's partly to do with general awareness but also campaigns like Plastic Free July."
Albury restaurant Cafe Dalchini offers a tiffin lunch or dinner takeaway service; meals come in a stackable, stainless-steel food tin, which is returned and reused.
It avoids plastic takeaway containers and soggy, cardboard boxes.
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