Startups Go EcoFriendly: Swiggy, Zomato Now Offer Recycled Packaging Material

Swiggy a Bengaluru-based food ordering and delivery platform on Monday (3rd September 2018) announced the launch of Swiggy Packaging Assist, a marketplace program for enabling packaging solutions to restaurants on its platform as it looks to diversify its play in the food technology sector. This initiative will offer restaurants access to a variety of packing solutions for their menu needs with about 30 products to begin with.

Zomato a Gurugram-based restaurant search and discovery service, is also taking Baby Steps to reduce the environmental hazards caused due to plastic packaging. A new feature in their app has been introduced that enables customers to opt out of cutlery when they order, thereby reducing the use of plastic. 

Recycling Packaging Material Launched by Swiggy

Image Source: https://bit.ly/2Nk8TFg

Swiggy Packaging Assist will expand its catalogue to introduce eco-friendly meal trays and other items made from materials such as cornstarch and bagasse, the dry, pulpy residue left after extraction of juice from sugarcane. Eco-friendly options that suit their menu needs at the right price will be included in this catalogue. Materials such as paper and aluminium, which can be completely recycled, unlike plastic will be used by Swiggy.

To enable faster adoption of sustainable packaging options at the restaurant level itself, Swiggy is working with numerous designs consultants and manufacturers to come up with innovations and enhancements to the quality of packaging available in the country. An on-ground team to provide customized solutions and consultation to restaurants to improve their quality of packaging is being built by this Bengaluru-based firm. And therefore Swiggy has rolled out the option to partners in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune and will make it accessible to the rest of the cities within the next three months.

This is Swiggy’s second partner-focused initiative after the launch of Swiggy Capital Assist, which was its partner financing programme in 2017. Also Swiggy claims that the financing program has been used by 363 restaurant partners across 10 cities, to grow and expand business through access to additional working capital.

Zomato: Working To Reduce Food And Fuel Wastage

Image Source: https://bit.ly/2NOHsk7

16.5 Mn orders a month and all the food delivery aggregators in India combined process around 35-40 Mn orders a month have been alone processed by Zomato says Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, in his blog. These orders add up to 22,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste being created every month in India. The Zomato team is working with its restaurant partners to multiply its subscribers to use it's new opt out of cutlery feature.

Also, Zomato is helping kitchens to adjust serving portions based on the feedback the company receives on its orders to reduce overall food wastage. Specially designed bags that keep food fresh without additional packaging layers are used by the delivery partners. It is also looking forward to reduce fuel wastage with support from its restaurant partners. 

"On Sunday, Zomato’s delivery fleet drove for 2.4 Mn Km to deliver around 600k orders — that’s six times the distance between the earth and the moon. It is imperative that we work with restaurants and users to ‘pool’ delivery routes, thereby reducing fuel consumption while keeping delivery times intact,” said the blog post.

Cover Image Source Code: https://bit.ly/2M0qnBR