The Company That Wants to Lower Your Take-out Waste

A delivery service, DeliverZero, in New York wants to change that! Delivery services like Uber Eats, Grubhub, Seamless, Postmates, and Just Eat are becoming more and more popular.

After we order take-out, it is more than likely that we will throw away the container that the food comes in. We get our food in disposable containers, whether it is a paper box, a plastic box or a Styrofoam box. Rarely we see restaurants using recycled paper boxes or compostable/reusable boxes. They make ordering food easy – you just log in, look at the restaurant options, pick some entrees and within an hour, you get your food delivered right to your door. In fact, Bloomberg listed Just Eat as one of the companies to watch in 2020 with an estimated sales growth of 30.8%. With this convenience, it is easy to overlook the negative impacts food delivery creates on our environment.

Credit: DeliverZero

DeliverZero wants both consumers and restaurants to move away from disposable containers that end up in the trash. Launched in Brooklyn, New York in November of 2019, DeliverZero “…allow[s] customers to order food from their favorite restaurants as per usual, but packaging the food in returnable and reusable containers” according to the World Economic Forum. Ordering food from DeliverZero works just like other food delivery services, “There is no additional fee for ordering from DeliverZero — just a $2 deposit on each reusable container. As long as you return the containers within six weeks (which you can either do by handing them to the delivery person next time you get a delivery, or by scheduling a pickup with DeliverZero), you’ll receive your deposits back.”

The company is able to make a profit just like other delivery services, they take commissions from the restaurants. At the moment, they work with less than 20 restaurants but according to the co-founder Adam Farbiarz they have been receiving positive reception and are looking to expand. In his interview with Sarah Hirsh from Greenmatters, he said, “I think the next step is to grow our footprint… Get a few more restaurants in our current footprint, and then expand that footprint. We fully expect to come into Manhattan. Other markets are sort of on the longer-term horizon, but I definitely think taking over New York City, and then the New York metropolitan area — that’s definitely on the agenda right now.” If your brand is looking to buy the most eco-friendly custom lunch bags in bulk, please contact us at gallant@gallantintl.com