The Waters of Eden Prairie Embraces Reusables (With a 99% Return Rate)

Key Results

In the first eight months with ReusePass, The Waters of Eden Prairie:

• Achieved an impressive 99% return rate
• Saved almost 15,000 single-use containers from landfill
• Saved nearly 10,000 gallons of water

“ReusePass has already made a difference in the lives of our residents. They’ve been quick to adopt the system, seamlessly ordering meals and dropping off containers—leading to a 98% return rate in just the first few weeks. The community is thrilled to have a more sustainable dining option, and with fewer disposable boxes cluttering living spaces, we’re feeling the benefits of reducing packaging waste every day.”

- Kellie Wieland-Bohlig, Director of Culinary Services, The Waters of Eden Prairie

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Introduction

Senior living communities across the US are at a crossroads. More Americans are choosing assisted living—it’s cost-effective and offers a good quality of life for residents. However, assisted living operators are under strain. Soaring expenses are making financial and operational planning more challenging than ever.

Knowing that what worked five years ago won’t cut it anymore, and operators are experimenting with new strategies to meet today's demands. One seemingly small shift that can make a big difference in healthcare foodservice? Moving away from disposables and embracing reusable containers for takeout orders.

The Waters of Eden Prairie, an assisted living community in Minnesota, was seeking a way to:

• Embrace sustainability to better support diners and their families
• Report on the progress of new initiatives with trustworthy data
• Control ballooning dining-related expenses

The team recognized that a reusables program would solve several problems for operators and residents. By reducing the amount spent on single-use containers that ended up piled high in residents’ trash, operators would reclaim more funds to invest in the community and advance their dining offerings.

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Problem

At first glance, The Waters of Eden Prairie might not seem like the most obvious place for a reusables program. The community supports high-acuity residents who require the most intensive care, which includes a lot of memory-related support.

Eden Prairie has one of the highest daily meal volumes of all The Waters locations, many of which are delivered directly to residents’ apartments. Despite the dining team requiring a $3 disposable fee for takeaway meals that weren’t packed in diners’ tupperware, disposable container costs still ballooned during COVID—and residents were frustrated by the fee.

The team saw an opportunity for meaningful change.

“If we can make reuse work here, at a very high acuity building, then it can be rolled out anywhere."

- Kellie Wieland-Bohlig, Director of Culinary Services, The Waters of Eden Prairie

But there were broader concerns about the success of a new reuse program. Would the new system come with a steep learning curve? If residents had to be reminded multiple times about upcoming events, would they forget to return containers or accidentally throw them away? The key was a program that could integrate into residents' and staff members’ routines easily.

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Solution

The Waters of Eden Prairie needed a solution that offered a seamless experience for residents and staff, and ReusePass fit the bill. Sustainability was a big draw—investors were keen for The Waters’ communities to be as sustainable as possible. Even better? ReusePass’ unified program dashboard lets dining leaders see program performance and gain accurate waste-reduction data for more robust sustainability reporting.

But sustainability isn’t the only reason the facility opted for our track-and-trace reusable container program. ReusePass also reduces disposable costs, freeing up more resources for the staff to focus on residents’ well-being.

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ReusePass Program Design & Workflow

The Waters of Eden Prairie doesn’t use ReusePass in the same way universities do. Meal orders are frequently placed over the phone and delivered to residents’ rooms, and we wanted to help Eden Prairie Dining introduce reuse without disrupting their existing ways of working.

Here’s their ReusePass workflow:

1. Community meetings, turn-key signage and flyers explained the ReusePass process to residents.
2. Residents don’t need to sign up for ReusePass—their information is already in the back-of-house platform.
3. Residents place to-go orders over the phone or in the dining room.
4. Using Topanga’s mobile ScanApp, dining staff scan the containers’ QR codes and manually enter the room number provided to create the rental.
5. Staff deliver packaged meals and pick up containers for mobility-challenged residents. Team members also accept returns at a designated door in the dining room.
6. Back of house team members load reusables into the dish machine, where they are passively scanned in by a RFID reader to complete the rental.

There’s no deposits, sign-up friction, or new tech platforms for residents to navigate. Just easy access to delicious food in reusable containers that don’t clutter residents’ spaces and fill up dumpsters.

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Launch

In the run-up to the main launch, Eden Prairie Dining leaders piloted the program with 12 to 15 residents over two weeks to see what was working (and what wasn’t) before it went live for all residents. In addition to distributing flyers and hanging signage to help residents navigate ReusePass, the team got the word out at monthly resident meetings to build excitement in the community. One dining team member noted that residents were “super excited” about the launch.

The full rollout was a big success, with the community achieving an impressive 99% return rate in just two months! Despite years of disposables, residents and staff alike took to reuse as if it were always their operational standard.

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Impact

Thanks to ReusePass’ uniquely straightforward design, residents and staff alike have celebrated, not resisted, reuse. The program isn’t just saving the dining team money and helping the community meet its sustainability goals—it’s making a real difference in residents’ lives.

For one woman caring for her husband, the new program helps preserve her time and energy. Before, she had to make up to two trips to the dumpster each day, or deal with single-use containers constantly piling up in her apartment. Thanks to ReusePass, she now only has to make the trip twice a week.

Eden Prairie’s success shows that you shouldn’t underestimate your community’s appetite for change. The community traded disposables for reusables and came out closer to their sustainability goals, with less waste and energized residents.

Tired of mounting costs and waste from disposable containers? Let's talk. We’ll walk you through how ReusePass makes residents’ lives easier and reduces your monthly container expenses and environmental footprint.