"Hello, Let's Eat" - A New City of Edmonton Pilot by MCR Amanda R.

The City of Edmonton is trying a new pilot program called “Hello, Let’s Eat” which lends out dishes for gatherings that foster relationships between neighbours, coworkers, and friends, and get people talking to each other! I wanted to try this program was because I desperately wanted to avoid disposables for my baby’s 100-day party.

The 100-day party is a Chinese tradition that always incorporates food. Our party took place on June 23, 2018. We hosted a casual backyard BBQ for approximately 30 friends, and coworkers.

The process is really simple. Visit Hello,Let’s Eat and fill out the application form.

Dishes packed into my vehicle from River City Events

The kits are available in either 12 or 24 settings.  We rented the 24-place settings – as you can see, it’s quite a few dishes!  It included flatware, plates, bowls, water glasses, and soup mugs. The kit also contains laminated placemats with the “Hello, Let’s Eat” logo.

Since our party was on a Saturday, I had to pick up the dishes on Friday, and return them on the following Monday.  I picked them up at River City Events, which is just north of MacEwan University.

One really nice perk of the program is that you don’t need to wash the dishes prior to returning them – simply scrape the food remnants into your compost pile (or the dog bowl) and then give everything a quick rinse.

I hope this program takes off- it’s a simple way to have a waste-free event, foster new and old friendships, and doesn’t cost any money!

Visit edmonton.ca/hello

Amanda became an MCR in 2016 and has been composting, reducing, reusing, and recycling ever since.  She has hosted information booths on various waste reduction subjects from vermicomposting to grasscycling and strikes up conversations with pretty much everyone about waste. Amanda’s favourite waste reduction strategies are using her tumbler composters (because it's free fertilizer/soil amendment for the garden!), gardening (ie. no food packaging!), and cloth diapers and wipes for her baby, Caspian.