container Donation Guidelines

Rule of thumb for donations: If you wouldn’t use the container you’re donating in its current condition, knowing it came from someone else’s home, either clean it further or put it into the recycling.

Thank you for your understanding!

The recycling rate for plastics in the US has fallen to 5-6%, so instead of putting your plastic (or glass) containers into the recycling bin, donate them to us for reuse!

Belmar

To donate containers at our Belmar location, simply bring your containers by the store during our open hours. We will take the containers we’re able to use & send any unusable ones home with you.

Town Hall Marketplace

Book an appointment to donate containers at our Town Hall Marketplace location. Please do not leave containers at the Marketplace if you do not have an appointment.

Delivery

To donate containers during a delivery, leave a note at checkout to let us know you’ll be leaving donations out for us. We will collect your containers when we drop off your delivery order.

Donation Guidelines

We accept glass or plastic containers, but please no plastic that is too flimsy for reuse.
We do not accept containers that:
- Are not completely clean. We do clean donations using a 3-compartment sink, but our main goal is sanitization. We will not accept containers with any food residue, crumbs, or soap residue on them (inside or outside).
- Are not completely dry. Donations must be completely dry because we wash donations in large batches, meaning we don’t clean them immediately after we receive them from you. Moisture in the closed containers can lead to bacteria and bad odors.
- Do not have a matching lid.
- Have a strong odor. Examples include pickles, kimchi, curry sauces, red pasta sauce, etc. Often lids retain odors more than the jars, so be sure to check those!
- Have excessive sticky label residue. It collects lint, hair, dirt, etc and is not appealing for reuse. We highly prefer labels to be removed, but will accept containers with labels still attached.
- Have oily residue. Examples include body or baby oil, olive oil, avocado oil, etc.
- Have a cardboard/non-washable component. If part of the container can get soggy when washing, we cannot accept it.
- Have pump tops, spray stops, or droppers. These containers are too hard to completely rid of the previous product and therefore we cannot accept them. We can accept containers with squeeze-style lids (think ketchup) or screw caps.
- Are black plastic containers from takeout. These are not a popular choice for reuse with our customers, so we don’t take them. Black plastic cannot be recycled and must go into your trash can!
Please clean your containers before donating! We will clean and sanitize donated containers before we fill them, but our capacity is greatly reduced if the containers have not been pre-cleaned. Any containers that do not meet the guidelines above will either be left with your order or sent home with you.