Sustainable packaging may make food deliveries costlier by 10-30%: Zomato

Use of sustainable and biodegradable packaging materials may make food orders costlier by 10% to 30% for consumers, said Anjali Ravi Kumar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Zomato Limited, a food ordering and delivery platform.

Currently, a majority of food deliveries are done in plastic containers or plastic wrapping materials and this packaging typically accounts for 5% of the total cost of the food order and is borne by the consumer.

Ms. Kumar, in a conversation with The Hindu, said the toughest challenge in replacing plastic packaging in food delivery with sustainable alternate materials such as Bagasse, aluminium, paper, and earthenware was affordability, with consumers unwilling to absorb such a premium for going green.

“Customers have to pay for the packaging, however, their willingness to pay for sustainable packaging has its limits. Sustainable packaging can become affordable as adoption increases and economies of scale kick in. Once the scale is achieved, the prices will naturally go down,’’ she elaborated.

She further said that Zomato had been encouraging packaging start-ups and restaurant partners to focus on acceptable price points and reduce costs through better manufacturing and distribution.

To take this campaign forward, Zomato has launched PackSwitch, an interactive website to help restaurants, cloud kitchens and independent food entrepreneurs find the right sustainable packaging for each item on their menu.

The platform offers information on alternative packaging materials, their functionality, business viability, and environmental impact. According to her, packaging is an important decision, especially in food deliveries, as it has to be able to handle everything from biryani to desserts while surviving the entire delivery journey. “Restaurants should plan their packaging based on their cuisine, the brand communication and the cost,’’ she added.

Zomato has introduced a low-plastic-packaging filter on its app to allow customers to identify restaurants using reduced-plastic packaging, she claimed.

Zomato’s Plastic-Free Future Programme has recognised more than 10,000 restaurants across over 500 cities for using alternatives to plastic packaging for their main menu items.