Exclusive: Deliveroo injects £2.5m into subsidising cost of eco-friendly packaging for small restaurants
Deliveroo is pumping £2.5m into subsidising the cost of eco-friendly packaging for its smaller restaurant partners.
Restaurant partners will receive a 50 per cent subsidy on the cost of sustainable packaging, the delivery firm told CityA.M. on Friday.
The scheme will cover any item that is home-compostable or made from recyclable paper, cardboard, or recycled plastic.
The London listed tech start up said it would also explore alternative options with partners on products where an easily recyclable or compostable alternative doesn’t exist yet.
Some 45,000 small-medium sized Deliveroo restaurant partners across the UK will be able to take part in the scheme.
Small businesses with the highest sales over the past year will be able to access the initiative at first, as they have the highest packaging footprint.
A voucher code will initially be made available to small-medium-sized enterprises with the highest sales, and therefore highest packaging footprint, over the past 12 months.
The support comes as restaurants are facing mounting costs, with ingredient, energy and labour inflation spiking to sky-high levels.
Deliveroo hopes the investment could save up to an estimated 403 tonnes of plastic, the equivalent of around 25 trucks, potentially going to landfills.
Its packaging supplier will offset 1,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of the annual emissions for over 300 standard cars.
Off the back of a similar initiative in Hong Kong, Deliveroo will also launch the scheme in France, Italy, and Belgium in the coming weeks.
The multi million pound investment would “play a crucial role in helping our partners make greener choices,” Paul Bedford, director of policy and sustainability at Deliveroo said.
“By subsidising greener packaging, we’re underlining our commitment to reimagining packaging, reducing waste, and lowering our carbon footprint,” he added.