It needn’t be this way

Like many of us, Khun Nareerat Wiriyapong has come to rely on food delivery services since the Covid-19 pandemic precluded dining out. In her May 4 comment, “Plastic loves the pandemic”, she laments the mountain of plastic containers piling up in her house. The average lifespan of a plastic food delivery container is indeed regrettably short — a one-way journey from restaurant to home to trash.

Another article, “Covid-19 pushes plastic waste rise”, (BP, April 24) estimates that plastic waste has grown by 15% since the onset of Covid-19. But it need not be this way. Food delivery could embrace “circular economy” principles.

How might this work? It would require a food delivery service — let’s call it GoFood, for convenience — to invest in certain basic infrastructure: (1) reusable and stackable container sets (container and lid) in a limited number of standard sizes; (2) distributed collection bins at convenient and protected locations (such as parking areas of malls and office buildings); (3) a central recycling facility; (4) collection, recycling, and distribution staff; and (5) a convenient phone app to enable tracking of, and billing for, the container sets.

Tracking and billing would be necessary to ensure that all participants in the system properly support the circular flow of delivery containers. To enable tracking, each container and lid would have a unique QR code that could be read via the phone app. Restaurants, customers, and drivers wishing to participate in the circular delivery system would download the app and enable electronic payment.

Each participating restaurant would procure enough container sets from GoFood to cover a day’s worth of orders and would pay GoFood a deposit on each set (to help get the ball rolling, GoFood might well need to subsidise the restaurants’ initial container stock). Each item on the restaurant’s online menu would have an associated container set (or sets). When the customer placed an order, the deposits for the necessary container sets would be added to the customer’s bill. The restaurant employee filling the order would scan the QR codes for all containers. The phone app would transmit this information to GoFood, which would then update the restaurant’s inventory of container sets. As is done today, the GoFood app would track the order delivery by driver from restaurant to customer.

After placing his order, the customer could prepare container sets received in previous orders for recycling. Using the phone app, he would develop a listing of containers to be returned and send this listing to GoFood. The driver would drop off the food order, pick up the containers, confirm that the container listing was correct, and signal via the app that the order was complete. The app would then remove the containers from the customer’s inventory and credit him for the associated deposits. Similarly, the app would add the containers to the driver’s inventory.

Since the containers are stackable, the driver might be able to fill a number of orders before the returned containers consumed too much space. But periodically the driver would need to drop the containers at one of the collection bins. In so doing, the driver would indicate via the app that he had deposited the containers for various orders into the bin.

Then it would be time for the GoFood staff to play their part in the process. Early each morning, a driver would empty each collection bin and transport the container sets to the recycling centre, where they would be logged via the app, cleaned and sterilised — recognising that absolute cleanliness would be essential to customer acceptance. The logging process would confirm that the drivers had, in fact, delivered all the container sets as indicated. The recycling staff would then assemble (and log) container sets for each restaurant, sufficient to restock those used on the previous day. After assembly, GoFood drivers would distribute these container shipments to each restaurant on a regular schedule. When each restaurant confirmed delivery, the GoFood app would update its inventory of container sets.

Such a circular delivery system is indeed technically feasible. But is it economically feasible? The infrastructure required would certainly add to the delivered cost of food orders. But the circular system would reduce costs as well — namely the cost of one-way packaging currently borne by restaurants and waste disposal costs incurred by customers. The latter could become significant as municipalities hike disposal fees to help reduce waste.

The key to success probably lies in motivating customers to bear some level of additional costs to support plastic reuse and recycling. If customers are supportive, then restaurants would surely get on board. In its online menu, GoFood would indicate which restaurants were “circular”, a designation that could confer considerable marketing advantage on these participants.

Would such a circular delivery system be good for the environment? Unquestionably. Would customers support the concept? We’ll never know unless GoFood makes the attempt.

THOMAS W PARKINSON