Harborview Medical Center Continues to Reuse

Since partnering with Reuse Seattle, the Harborview Medical Center ("Harborview") prevented nearly 8,000 pounds of single-use waste and saved over $17,000.

In July 2024, Harborview replaced the majority of their compostable single-use bowls for their patient cold-side tray service line with reusable alternatives with support from Reuse Seattle's $500 incentive program. Since then, Harborview has received two additional $500 incentives from Reuse Seattle to replace single-use packaging in other facility locations. In October 2024, Harborview replaced compostable bowls in their Behavioral Health Units with reusable tumblers. In March 2025, they replaced compostable clamshells in the cafeteria with ceramic plates.

Program Successes

$5,936 in cost savings, more than 2,800 pounds of single-use eliminated, and 117,800 units of single-use prevented.

Behavioral Health Units

Atfter Harborview's success with their first reuse implementation, Director of Nutrition and Health Services Susan McBride reached out to Reuse Seattle about the potential to replace compostable bowls with reusable versions for their Behavioral Health Units. After several discussions with Reuse Seattle, Harborview selected reusable, flexible tumblers that met safety precautions and came in calming colors and designs that made them distinguishable from single-use alternatives. As a result of that switch, Harborview saw $4,434 in cost reductions and prevented over 2,000 pounds of single-use waste over the course of 8 months!

Cafeteria

Harborview then collaborated with Reuse Seattle on a third effort to replace compostable clamshells in their cafeteria with ceramic plates. To incentivize the use of ceramic plates, Harborview started charging a $0.25 fee per disposable clamshell. According to Harborview staff, café customers are happy to have the option to choose reusable dishes in the cafeteria. Since the addition of ceramic plates in March 2025, Harborview has reduced clamshell costs by 10%, saving them $1,502 by replacing over 7,400 single-use clamshells (754 pounds) with reusable plates.

Harborview has been leading reuse among

Seattle’s medical facilities and continues to look for the next innovation. In the next phase of their leading-edge reuse journey, Harborview is working to increase return rates by providing additional messaging and staff training. For example, Harborview has incorporated visual messaging to remind staff to return flexible plastic tumblers to the dish room!

Harborview has also optimized staff capacity to ensure their washing system can handle the increase in dishware. To account for the increased workload of washing and avoid impacts on employees, Harborview moved an additional staff member to the dish room to provide washing support, and dish room staff have reported that the switch to reuse has not impacted them.

Harborview's successful reuse projects show that waste reduction is possible, even in medical facilities with stringent requirements, and can contribute to significant cost savings in just a few months.