How to solve the "excessive packaging" of takeaway?

Recently, a research report by the relevant research team of the School of Environment of Tsinghua University has attracted attention. According to the analysis of 35 million take-out orders, the plastic waste in the national take-out waste will weigh about 1.6 million tons in 2020, and the harmless treatment will be 1.6 million tons. Plastic waste costs about 2.45 billion yuan.

This data undoubtedly reflects the high social cost caused by the current takeaway garbage. In order to reduce the environmental pollution caused by take-out packaging, the industry has been carrying out relevant "plastic reduction" actions, such as the "no tableware" option initiated by the platform as the first step to reduce the source of take-out tableware, and calls for Use non-woven or paper packaging instead of plastic packaging, etc. In the current takeaway industry, what problems still exist in takeaway packaging? How to further promote the solution of the takeaway garbage problem?

Even in the beverage industry, in order to improve brand recognition and consumer experience, many merchants will work hard on packaging. Taking a tea beverage shop as an example, the reporter also checked "no tableware" when purchasing the beverages from the shop. However, in the gift of tea, there are not only degradable plastic straws, but also double Packaging - A layer of plastic lamination cover, plus a layer of removable plastic cover, in addition, there are also plastic openers, plastic toys, etc., which are all "packaged as standard".

Similar situations can be described as countless in the consumer group. "Eating a takeaway these days, just unpacking it is hard work." Consumer Xiao Li is also very puzzled by the "excessive packaging" in the takeaway industry today: "In the past, when ordering a takeaway, most of it was an ordinary cup. Milk tea or a boxed lunch, but nowadays, ordering a cup of coffee may include subpackaged coffee liquid, packaged mineral water, packaged fresh milk, ice cubes, coffee cups, and even coasters, heat insulation sleeves Wait, after a cup of coffee, these takeaway packages alone can fill a trash can."

Are environmentally friendly box bags "not environmentally friendly"? The "zero cutlery" option is fake?

The beautifully packaged takeaway can certainly improve brand awareness and user experience, but in the long run, it has also caused many consumers to shout "waste". "Especially when I was at home because of the epidemic prevention and control, my family relied on takeaways for three meals a day, and the resulting takeaway garbage could reach up to twenty bags at most." Xiao Li said.

Uncle Zhang, a sanitation worker, is in charge of garbage hauling in a residential area. Uncle Zhang revealed that every day he is in charge of four buildings with a total of more than 140 households, and he has to transport garbage trucks three times a day only during lunch and dinner. Most of them are take-out garbage. Sometimes we clean out the take-out lunch boxes separately, and some of them are of good quality and can be reused; in addition, there are garbage such as paper bags and non-woven thermal bags, some of which are dedicated Insulation bags are reusable, but basically everyone throws them out with the takeaway box.”

Non-woven thermal insulation bags, paper bags, etc. are the changes initiated by the platform in recent years for "plastic reduction". "But in fact, due to oil stains and other reasons, the current thermal insulation bags and food paper bags can hardly be recycled. When they are transported to the garbage transfer station with domestic waste, the pressure on environmental protection may be even greater than that of plastic bags." According to Li Xiankun of Hui Environmental Protection, in terms of food packaging, there are mainly four types of packaging materials on the market: polypropylene plastic (PP), polystyrene plastic (PS), paper, aluminum foil, etc. Among them, the carbon emission generated by the popular non-woven packaging is actually 11 times that of ordinary PP plastic bags, which means that the non-woven fabric needs to be reused 11 times to truly achieve the effect of carbon reduction. Similarly, there are some degradable packaging lunch boxes made of corn starch. Due to the special degradable materials, if the carbon reduction effect is to be achieved, special recycling methods and processing equipment must be used.