Cost-benefit Analysis of Compostable Food Serviceware: A Case Study of an Educational Institute in California

Globally, many educational institutes are focusing on implementing sustainability goals by encouraging the use of compostable products over the plastics, reducing waste, conserving water and others. The study performs a financial assessment of using Compostable food service ware (CSFW) in the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), Monterey, California. To better understand the financial implications of the use of compostable food ware, comparisons have been made with the traditional reusable food service ware (RSFW). The results were calculated and compared through different approaches including data analysis, a Cost-Benefit Analysis and Net Present Values (NPVs). NPV values of compostable resulted in positive figures at different discount factors where a 3% discount rate has a higher value. The study concludes that investing in CSFW could be a financially sound approach as this practice is not only cost-effective but has certain environmental benefits over the reusables. The findings of our study can be used in the decision-making process by the educational institutes and other organizations while targeting their sustainability goals. Further studies can be done to evaluate the in depth analysis of assessing costs of production, carbon footprints and to determine the payback period of both types of items.