changeadminEvery time I open the leftmost drawer of my kitchen cabinet, I am dismayed at the number of spoons, forks, and knives that I have accumulated. On the bottom shelf, there are containers of various shapes and sizes. The anguish stems from the fact that all this cutlery and containers are made of plastic, polystyrene, and styrofoam.
Plastic Waste is a significant global problem, particularly in countries with large, affluent populations. More specifically, those families and individuals who do not cook for themselves but prefer to order food. The pandemic, which forced people to stay home, likely increased demand for online food delivery.
DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub in the USA; Meituan, Ele.me in China; Deliveroo in the UK; Delivery Hero, Eat in Europe; and Zomato, Swiggy in India, among many others, came to the rescue for all those who liked to have restaurant food while sitting at home.
Each of these companies is a food delivery behemoth in its respective country. Beyond providing convenience to consumers, food delivery platforms offer restaurants market access and employment opportunities for delivery partners.
One aspect often overlooked in this discussion is the plastic and plastic waste generated by the online food delivery industry.
Food delivery requires containers, bowls, cutlery, glassware, cups, lids, foil, condiment sachets, ketchup, stirrers, and delivery packets, among other packaging materials; most of these are made of styrofoam or plastic.
Plastic, as most people understand, takes hundreds of years to decompose, with specific categories decomposing more slowly than others.
Plastic is generally categorised from Type 1 to Type 7. Type 6 is primarily provided by restaurants for takeout deliveries and is made of polystyrene (Styrofoam).
In our interaction with Sonal Shukla, co-founder of Eco Deco, a company that makes home decor items from plastic waste, she smilingly remarked, “Zomato and Swiggy (Indian food delivery players) have promoted so much plastic waste because of take-out containers, cups, and plates, and the recyclability is very low for this type of plastic.”
The plastic waste generated by food delivery is simply enormous for any one entity to solve.
Who is responsible for the plastic waste that food delivery generates?
While one may argue about the responsibility for plastic waste generated by food delivery, where does the responsibility end? Whether it is,
- Restaurant owners and staff who pack the food.
- Food aggregators who deliver it to consumers’ homes.
- End users unpack the food from the parcel and discard it as waste.
On the one hand, restaurants are distributed across the country, making it challenging to conduct inspections. On the other hand, consumers are still largely unaware of the consequences of plastic waste.
Hence, either out of self-consciousness or under increasing pressure from investors and environmentalists, the onus has fallen on food aggregators to address the gap.
Solutions for reducing food delivery plastic waste
Opt-in for Cutlery on the Mobile App
With substantial financial backing and technological capabilities, some of these food delivery companies are seeking to reduce their carbon footprint through technological interventions.
The majority of consumers eating at home neither need nor want plastic containers, plastic cutlery, ketchup packets, and similar items with their food orders. Taking the cue, numerous companies have introduced the ‘Opt-in for cutlery’ feature in their mobile apps.
In September 2019, the food delivery platform Uber Eats introduced a feature requiring customers to opt in to receive single-use items, such as utensils and straws.
On similar lines, India-focused Zomato announced in August 2021 that customers would have to explicitly request cutlery, tissues, and straws.
Later, the Gurgaon-headquartered company modified its feature in the mobile app. According to the company’s blog post, Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Zomato, said, “On the Zomato app, customers always had the option to skip cutlery with their order. However, very few customers used that option. We learnt that it wasn’t because they always wanted the cutlery, but because they weren’t making an active choice. Defaults almost never get changed by customers during product flows. We surveyed thousands of our customers, and a whopping 90%+ of them said that they didn’t really need plastic cutlery with their orders. Keeping this in mind, we decided to change the default mode for cutlery – customers will now have to explicitly request cutlery, tissues, and straws if they need it. This is now an ‘opt-in’ instead of an ‘opt-out’. ”
According to the company’s estimates, this change to the Zomato app it will “help save up to 5,000 kilos of plastic in one day – that is up to 2 million kilos of plastic in a year”. Additionally, Zomato’s feature will also help “restaurant partners save ₹2-5 (~0.5-1% of order value) on every order going forward”.
China’s three largest food delivery companies—Meituan, Baidu, and Ele.me — succumbed to pressure from environmental groups and social media to launch a similar feature. All three companies added a “no utensil” option to their mobile apps.
Reusable containers
Before any of the food-tech business founders were born, Mumbai, India, had the famous dabbawalas, who delivered thousands of home-cooked meals in metal tiffin carriers on foot or by bicycle.
Inspired by this, US-based Go Box and DeliverZero are using reusable food containers for their food deliveries.
Portland-based GO Box has partnered with restaurants to provide reusable packaging to its customers.GoBox charges customers a subscription fee for the use of a reusable container. After use, customers can deposit their container at a designated drop-off site for the Go Box team to collect and sanitise for reuse.
New York-based DeliverZero delivers food in reusable containers that customers can return to the delivery courier for their next order.
Biodegradable packaging and materials
The UK-based Deliveroo, in addition to a customer opt-in feature, also offers eco-friendly alternatives to its restaurant partners. BioPak’s range includes cups, napkins, and cutlery made from plant-based materials and certified ‘home compostable’.
Another UK-based food-ordering company, Eat, has partnered with the sustainable packaging firm Notpla to provide recyclable takeout containers lined with seaweed. Launched in February 2020, the company claims that the container can decompose within four weeks when placed in a home compost bin.
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