Reusing tableware can reduce waste from online food deliveries

Date:
September 25, 2020
Source:
University of Groningen
Summary:
In China, approximately 10 billion online food orders were
served to over 400 million customers in 2018. All of these
orders came in single-use plastic packaging, with single-use
plastic tableware. Environmental scientists found that reusable
tableware can substantially reduce packaging waste and life cycle
environmental emissions.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Lifestyles in China are changing rapidly, and ordering food online is an example. However, those billions of delivery meals produce an enormous
amount of plastic waste from packaging, but also from food containers
and cutlery; in one year, some 7.3 billion sets of single-use tableware accompany the food.

Around one-third of the 553 kilotons of municipal solid waste that is
generated each day comes from packaging. That is why a group of scientists analysed whether using paper alternatives or reusable tableware could
reduce plastic waste and associated life cycle emissions.


========================================================================== Alternatives Ya Zhou (associate professor at Guangdong University of Technology) and Yuli Shan are the first authors of this paper. Yuli Shan,
Dabo Guan (Professor at Tsinghua University) and Yanpeng Cai (Professor
at Guangdong University of Technology) are the corresponding authors.

'We quantified the environmental impact and modelled different
alternatives,' explains Shan. The alternatives to the single-use plastic tableware were single-use paper alternatives and reusable silicone
tableware that is cleaned either by the restaurants that cook the food
or in a central cleaning facility.

Paper substitution Paper may sound like a good alternative since it can be degraded, but single- use polyethylene-coated paper containers and bags actually increased emissions and total waste volume. 'For those areas
without paper waste collection and recycling systems, paper substitution
is not the optimal option for addressing the takeaway packaging waste
dilemma,' says Zhou. Reusable silicon tableware reduced plastic waste
by up to 92 per cent, and environmental emissions (carbon, sulfur and
nitrogen dioxides, small particulate matter, dioxins) and chemical oxygen demand) and water consumption by more than two-thirds.

Getting an environmentally friendly and, at the same time, safe system of reusable tableware up and running requires some investments. 'A central cleaning facility would be best, also for health inspections to ensure
safety, but this requires a system for collecting the used sets.' That
is not easy but also not impossible: 'However, it does need a government
effort to realize this.' Zero waste The Chinese government is taking
steps to drastically reduce waste, as the Nature Food paper explains. A
number of initiatives have sought new solutions for municipal solid waste management and plastic reduction, including a sorting implementation
plan, a 'zero-waste city' pilot programme that started last year and a nationwide single-use plastic ban as from January 2020.

Would it not be easier to deliver the food without tableware? It may be possible in some cases, but not for all takeaway orders, according to
Shan: 'Most meals are not eaten at home but in the classroom, during
lunch breaks or at the office, when employees work late.' Zhou added
that 'reusing tableware provides a potential solution to reduce waste
and emissions from takeaway meals and a new strategy for promoting
sustainable and "zero-waste" lifestyles'.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Groningen. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ya Zhou, Yuli Shan, Dabo Guan, Xi Liang, Yanpeng Cai, Jingru
Liu, Wei
Xie, Jinjun Xue, Zhuguo Ma, Zhifeng Yang. Sharing tableware
reduces waste generation, emissions and water consumption in
China's takeaway packaging waste dilemma. Nature Food, 2020; 1
(9): 552 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-020- 00145-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200925113334.htm

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