UK Food Delivery giant Just Eat is developing innovative condiment packets made out of seaweed in a bid to help the fight against plastic waste. The move comes following research that highlighted the large waste of plastic items such as cutlery, straws and sachets going unused by those ordering takeaways.
Graham Corfield, UK Managing Director of Just Eat said: "Many of the plastics polluting our oceans are by-products of food and drink consumption. As the market leader in online food delivery, we are using our influence to drive more environmentally-friendly behaviour among our restaurant partners and customers.
"In the short term, that means helping our customers opt-out of excess plastics and completely halting the sale of single-use plastics from our restaurant partner shop. In the medium term, it means educating our 28,000 restaurant partners to reduce their plastic usage. And in the long term, it means funding the research and development which will create more sustainable packaging that keeps food hot and fresh. This is just the first step and we look forward to working with our partners and suppliers to support innovation in the sector."
The first initiative will see a partnership with Skipping Rocks Lab to trial the introduction of the new seaweed-based sachets to restaurant partners which are not only edible but decompose within six weeks.
This March we compiled a foodwatching report on our trendhub looking at the 'Little Extras', which covered all aspects of sauces, their popularity and rising use, as well as innovations in the space. Read the report here.
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