Each Saturday, the Worthington Farmers Market vendors sell customers their products in a variety of containers. What if, instead of customers throwing these containers in the trash, there was a way to incentivize their reuse?
CORC coalition member The Worthington Green Team (part of the Worthington Partnership) realized that this was an opportunity to foster reuse at the market, since vendor surveys revealed that over one quarter of the market’s producers already take back, clean, and reuse containers.
In 2025, The Worthington Green Team applied for and received a grant from SWACO to study and promote reuse at the Worthington Farmers Market and downtown Worthington. Part of the grant funded the launch of six shops in the Okapi Cup program (four of them in Worthington). The other part of the grant funded the launch of the Reuse Token program which has been running since June and is now at the Winter Worthington Farmers Market (every Saturday at the Shoppes at Worthington Place from 9 am to noon).
The Reuse Token program is a simple, customer-friendly program designed to encourage container reuse. Whenever a customer brings a container back to a participating vendor, they receive a small wooden Reuse Token. When a customer collects five Reuse Tokens, they can exchange their Reuse Tokens at the Information Booth for a $5 Market Token. The Market Tokens function just like cash, are accepted by all market vendors, and are already familiar to shoppers since they have been used for many years.
The program began with just a handful of vendors, but it has picked up steam as vendors are added (there are now 25 participating in the program) and more customers are aware of they can return containers to make some cash they can spend at the market. Over 1,000 Reuse Tokens have been redeemed so far.
The Reuse Token has been a success with both customers and vendors. Market Manager Chelse Kayse says "The reuse token program is such a great addition to our farmers market. Folks are incentivized to bring reusable containers back by receiving tokens they can use at the market - it's a win-win for our customers, vendors, and the environment!"
