RePlated: Making containers beautiful and convenient

Naomi Tarszisz wants to make reusable meal containers as ubiquitous as their coffee cup cousins. She founded RePlated to do just that, and has a convenient formula in mind to get people using them.

If we want to get people invested in sustainability on a day to day basis, Naomi says there are two things we have to build into our products and systems: beauty and convenience.

“People are just people,” she says, “it takes a lot for us to change our habits.

“I mean, I care about the planet and I can’t even remember to carry my reusable containers every day. We want to make it as easy as possible to do the right thing when it comes to rejecting single use.”

At the end of the day, good design has to encompass sustainability.

To pull as many people as possible into the eco-loop, Naomi believes creating attractive products is one of the most important steps.

For RePlated, that has meant working hard with manufacturers to refine its first product – the reusable bento box.

“At the end of the day, good design has to encompass sustainability,” she says. “But in order to get people to use it, it must be better aesthetically and functionally as well.”

Refining the product

The more attractive the product, the more receptive people will be to using it, Naomi says. But it has to be beautiful inside and out.

That’s why using recycled materials to create a high quality container is so important to the RePlated team. Even if it takes a little more time to get to market.

“We are going to use recycled plastic in a way it hasn’t been used before,” she says, “it will be amazing when we are on the market.”

Preorders for the bento box are open now, with the product launch penciled in for early 2020.

Bento box prototype

Working the system

Naomi and the team want the gorgeous RePlated product to be as convenient as possible for all customers to use, from individual companies to entire office blocks and universities.

I would love to make eating a more beautiful experience.

The plan is to encourage even the smallest of teams to purchase the product for their offices, and store the containers in kitchens or at the front desk for teams to take when they go out.

They are also working with inhouse catering teams to transition to 100 per cent reusables in those environments. Naomi believes this will free people from the burden of remembering and carrying a reusable container to work without sacrificing on the joy of buying lunch or the environment.

Central to this ethos is inspiring people to get away from their desks and bringing back the social aspect of eating lunch.

Naomi Tarszisz, founder

“I would love to make eating a more beautiful experience,” Naomi says. “In an ideal world we wouldn’t be eating at our desks, we’d be out in the world, or at a communal table, spending time with others and building our relationships at work.”

RePlated is still in its early days, but Naomi and the team are passionate about making this product and service as sustainable and enjoyable as possible. And they’re thinking big.

“What we want to create is a system that works first at a building level, then links up buildings into precincts,” she says, “eventually creating a city wide system for reusable takeaway food containers.”

Stay tuned for more updates on the RePlated journey.

This is part of the City of Sydney’s Sustainable Destination Partnership series, helping local businesses take the Single Use Pledge.

RePlated: Making containers beautiful and convenient

Replated

Naomi Tarszisz wants to make reusable meal containers as ubiquitous as their coffee cup cousins. She founded RePlated to do just that, and has a convenient formula in mind to get people using them.

Refining the product

Working the system

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