Zomato Announces 100% ‘Plastic Neutral Deliveries’ From April 2022

New Delhi: Online food delivery platform Zomato on Friday announced 100 per cent ‘plastic neutral deliveries’ from April 2022 onwards, while also setting a target to deliver more than 10 crore orders in sustainable packaging over the next three years. The company recognises that it is important to start promoting biodegradable and other non-plastic alternatives to make them become as affordable and available as plastic is today, Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said in a blogspot.

From now on, every meal you order through Zomato will be 100 per cent plastic neutral, which means we will voluntarily recycle more than 100 per cent of all plastic utilised in your order’s packaging, he wrote.

Also Read: Earth Day 2022: It’s Time To ‘Invest In Our Planet’ And Build A Prosperous And Equitable Future

To achieve this, Mr Goyal said that the company has started working with cutting edge ISO-certified plastic waste management organisations, who will partner with municipalities across India, to collect and responsibly process plastic waste.

Asserting that more work lies ahead in order to completely reduce or eliminate the use of plastic in food delivery, he said Zomato is also “amping up our efforts to develop and promote sustainable packaging for all types of cuisines.”

We are aiming to deliver over 100 million additional eco-friendly food delivery orders (orders in sustainable packaging) over the course of the next three years, by supporting our restaurant partners in switching to affordable and sustainable packaging alternatives. We’re going to partner with various stakeholders working on innovative solutions and models for the restaurant industry including government-led initiatives, social enterprises and startups, Mr Goyal said.

While acknowledging that this initiative is going to cost Zomato a significant amount of money and affect its profit and loss statement negatively, Mr Goyal said,

However, I strongly believe that what’s good for the planet is good for business. I also believe that profits happen when you do everything else right. And this is surely a step in the right direction.

Sharing steps taken by Zomato towards long-term sustainability, he said that last year the company had launched ‘Climate Conscious Delivery’ and also started funding local environmental projects to offset the carbon footprint of all its deliveries and packaging in India. Zomato had also made ‘no cutlery required’ as the default option on its app. This helped ensure 74 per cent of orders go without cutlery “preventing tonnes of single-use plastic from reaching landfills,” he said.

We signed up for the EV100 initiative, and have committed to move to a 100 per cent EV (electric vehicle) fleet by 2030, he said adding, doing all this, last year, the company offset around 5,00,000 MTs of carbon emissions.

Also Read: Climate Change Is For Real, Here’s Why We Need To Limit Global Warming And Act Now

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.