A study was conducted in several random areas of the oceans around the world. It proved in finding a collective junk pile of over 12 million pieces of litter, trash, and debris taken from the waters. This analysis was taken from only small parts of the ocean.
Up to 80 percent of the trash surveyed was made up of plastics. The majority are bags, wrappers, straws, plastic utensils, cans, and takeaway food containers.
Related: What is Sustainability in Businesses
As restaurant owners, consumers, and manufacturers, we must step up and start saving the planet: Up to 30% of solid waste is made of packaging waste, and restaurants contribute primarily to that number.
The study found that containers, wrappings, and packaging concentrate heavily along our coasts, and these plastics quickly gather along the shoreline borders or end up stuck beneath the waves.
We know how this pollution drastically affects our ecosystem and how it negatively impacts animal and plant life on earth. So what can we do to change this?
Finding the best disposable food containers was challenging for manufacturers and restaurateurs. Think back to the 1980s when everything you ate came in convenient styrofoam or plastic container. Fortunately, more and more eco-friendly options are being made more sustainable, which will hopefully prove beneficial to the environment in the future.
Reasons Why Food Delivery Packaging Operators are Going Eco-friendly
First off, we all want to protect and save the planet and reserve our essential resources. Did you know that being more sustainable in your business choices can boost sales? “Boosting up your brand by going eco-friendly.”
Consumers are becoming more cautious about restaurant food packaging and care about how much they waste. Customers are almost two times more likely to purchase a more sustainable product when directly compared with competitors who don’t.
Other keynotes in choosing your food containers either at home or in business. Especially in business, your restaurant or food to-go containers of choice should:
- Make food look as desirable as it tastes
- Protect against cross-contamination
- Control the temperature and safety of the food
- Showcase your brand
- Be durable
- Affordability
Offering your customers sustainable food service products will keep them happy and returning. While simultaneously saving the planet and staying ahead of future rules and regulations. In 2022, the New York State styrofoam ban went into effect. Sustainability is quickly becoming the main focus of food service packaging companies everywhere. More significant changes and regulations might affect how we package and deliver food, even in our personal lives.
Related: 10 Best Green Business Ideas
Sustainable but Durable Packaging Options
So what does having more eco-friendly food containers and takeaways mean for food? Luckily there are already some sustainable, durable, and affordable packaging options that will preserve the taste and quality of your food.
Below are just some options for a better way to go about food containers and how we contain and deliver our food products.
Banana Leaves
No deforestation or animal habitat loss occurs in its production, and production costs are low. Banana leaves for restaurant food containers and to-go boxes, and this old but sustainable technique could be a new way to preserve our leftovers. The best part, banana leaves are naturally antibacterial.
Bamboo
Bamboo is easy to produce, has plenty available, and is one of the earth’s “fastest-growing plants.” Bamboo’s thick, durable fibers are perfect for creating packaging and food containers that can be recycled and reused. Bamboo packaging is one of the more expensive packaging solutions on the market, but it makes up for the price in durability.
Paper Products
Paper and cardboard are better than aluminum or plastics because they are both readily available and, even better, recyclable. Paper and cardboard packaging prices depend on the business you purchase from, and paper is versatile and is used today to package all different types of food and takeaway products.
Bioplastics
Scientists have discovered a way to make plastic from natural materials like vegetables and sugar. Prices vary depending on the type of bioplastic used. However, it is an advanced means of packaging—both better for the earth and all who live there.
When looking for the best biodegradable food containers, check out PlantSwitch.
Plant Waste to the Rescue
Food containers used for maybe a few days, plastic packaging that lasts a split second before it hits the trash, and worse, the land and oceans we love and live in. Sustainability goes hand in hand with long-lasting quality of life for everyone.
We at PlantSwitch care about the environment, and we’re on a mission and want to help companies meet that consumer demand and need for biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastics. We are giving agro-industrial waste a new life with our products made out of upcycled agave waste from tequila production.
Related: 10 Ways to Boost Sustainability in Restaurants
Suppose tequila post-product didn’t give us enough waste. We utilize the leftover agave fibers and liquids to create a resin that we turn into high-quality biodegradable products like food containers. Unlike other commercially compostable materials, our plant-based materials are tested to degrade almost entirely in the first 100 days, and in a few years, they won’t even exist.
The main goal is that one day all single-use products will be made from naturally bio-degradable materials. “Reusing,” “reducing,” and “recycling” are top ways to fight plastic pollution, but now we can “replace.”
The PlantSwitch solution is to replace polluting plastics with plant-based, naturally degradable single-use products. We are creating a more sustainable world to live in.
Be Part of the Innovation
We work closely with our customers to continue to invent new solutions to fight the world’s pollution problems. Hopefully, in the future, our technology made into agave-based straws, containers, cutlery, and so much more will be part of the solution.