Let’s deep-dive on how such a program is going to help restaurant partners reduce their usage of plastic packaging for food deliveries in the long-run.
Restaurant partners choose and procure their own packaging for food delivery based on cuisine type, brand and budget. Many restaurants, particularly those serving desi and oriental cuisine, find that food-grade plastic containers and meal trays can be shut tight, handle heat and carry gravy-based cuisines safely on our roads, apart from being economical and widely available. If there’s one thing we have learned from years in food delivery, it is that no hungry customer likes to receive their order with sambhar, green chutney, soy sauce or raita spilled or with soggy packaging!
The good news – there’s been a surge in innovation in this domain. We ran a Zomato X Start-Up India Packathon earlier this year to surface some of the most exciting sustainable packaging solutions for food delivery. With a panel comprising judges from the restaurant sector, Zomato, Indian Institute of Packaging and waste-picker rights organizations, the Packathon put a spotlight on planet-friendly packaging solutions such as edible cutlery, barrier coatings made of plant-based gums and patented carry bags made of agri-waste.
For these innovations to reach nearly 3 lakh active food delivery restaurant partners onboarded with us across 700 cities in India, this program is an attempt to encourage customers to place their orders from the restaurants that are willing to experiment with plastic-free alternatives.
