"He's the delivery man!" What if, by bringing your sushi or your little salted lentils at home, the courier who parked his scooter at the foot of the building also recovered the Tupperware, glass jars or tin bowl from previous deliveries?
The delivery instructions could soon see the light of day while Secretary of State Brune Poirson meets this Wednesday with the major players in the sector: Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Frichti, FoodChéri… "I want them to commit to the ecological transition and especially against plastic pollution, she tells us. If we do not integrate concrete actions, we are going to collapse more than today. In 2018, 200 million meals were delivered in France, that's at least 200 million boxes ... Manufacturers will have to present their commitments before October 1.
The proposals of the Citizen's Climate Convention, which proposes to ban single-use plastic packaging by 2023, coupled with the election of green mayors in large cities that consume home deliveries on Sunday, could put pressure additional on these companies.
Zero waste solutions already in place
Everything remains to be built, but we can imagine a deposit system to encourage the return of reusable containers. If ever the major players in the delivery are out of inspiration, there are already zero waste solutions like that of Reconcil which rents plastic boxes to restaurants for take-out. Customers bring them back to them, Reconcil collects them and puts them in their gigantic dishwasher installed in Paris. “Our objective is to be able to supply very large players in the delivery. And thus replace disposable boxes coming from the end of the world by local employment! Insists Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston, the creator of this start-up.
Contacted on Tuesday, Uber Eats explains that it has "set up a dedicated partnership with Dinovia, an expert player in this subject in France" which allows us to offer widely recyclable packaging, with little or no plastic. Same ambition at Deliveroo: "We also provide our partner restaurants with packaging in paper, cardboard, sugar cane or PLA (bio-based and recyclable plastic)"
"We cannot be satisfied with saying it is not my responsibility, it is that of my client or that of my subcontractor, everyone must take their share", judge Brune Poirson. For the Secretary of State, these initiatives go in the right direction but can go further. “We have to change the model. Plastic packaging is petroleum that is extracted at the other end of the world so that it ends up in the trash. It can't go on any longer, ”she insists. What if the voluntary proposals of delivery professionals were not sufficient? The obligation could be included in the "Citizens' Convention Bill" promised by the Head of State.