Introduction Ten years ago, online food delivery services barely existed in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In 2021, it grew to become a $58.7 billion industry representing more than half of the global market. The PRC is not alone in this uptrend. The Southeast Asian market almost tripled in 2020, its growth accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, and continued to grow strongly by more than 30% in 2021. Although the booming industry has powered economic activity and brought unparalleled convenience to hundreds of millions of consumers, it has also generated a significant amount of waste that litters cities, chokes rivers, and threatens wildlife and habitats. In the PRC, we estimated that 37 billion plastic containers were discarded in 2020, based on the 17.12 billion online food orders made.[1] If we were to line up each piece, this would be equivalent to about 37 times the distance between the North Pole and the South Pole. What’s disturbing is that the containers take centuries to biodegrade, but about an hour to use. Recognizing these, the PRC government will ban the use of disposable plastic in e-commerce, express delivery, and takeaway food from the end of 2022. In response, companies have adopted innovative ways to combat environmental and health issues created by plastic waste. Reduce: Immediate Solutions In 2017, Meituan, the PRC’s leading food delivery giant with 628 million active users and 7.7 million merchants, became the first company to launch the “opt-out for disposable cutlery” feature on its app. Users who choose this option are given points that can be donated to a green initiative fund. Other food delivery platforms have since followed suit. And the feature has received widespread acceptance. For example, more than 70% of the average 1.2 million daily orders received by Meituan in Shanghai use this feature. Ele.me, another food delivery platform, has experimented with edible cutlery . The chopsticks are made of flour, sugar, milk, and butter, which customers can eat as desserts. They come in three tasty flavors: matcha, wheat, and taro. Each pair is covered by recycled paper. Within the first 6 months of its launch, Ele.me has attracted more than 100 participating restaurants and distributed 10 million pairs of chopsticks. Reuse: Midterm Solutions In addition to the reduction efforts, businesses have experimented with reusable containers. ShuangTi, a startup based in Shenzhen, created an intelligent “shared lunchbox” business model. It employs reusable containers made of highly durable polypropylene with a microchip inserted to track location and usage time. After an order is placed on the app, the food is delivered to a heat-insulated smart locker for collection. When it is finished, customers return the containers to the locker. The containers are then gathered, sanitized, and reused for another delivery. Since 2017, ShuangTi has delivered more than 30 million orders, mostly to university students. They estimate that if the project is introduced to 500 campuses, around 5,000 tons of plastic waste could be eliminated each year. YIKO Eats, a community kitchen startup in Beijing, takes a similar approach by reusing ceramic containers. Customers select a timeslot to return the containers when they place an order. YIKO Eats’ popularity has grown among busy young professionals, who enjoy the coziness of dining with fine china but dislike the hassle of cooking and cleaning up. Recycle and Beyond: Long-Term Solutions Worldwide, only 1% of polypropylene (the plastic mainly used in delivery containers) is recycled. Oily stains and food residue make the process difficult and costly as the material must be separated and cleaned. As such, containers placed in the recycling bin often end up in landfills or incinerators, representing a major source of pollution. To address this, Meituan and top chain restaurants have established 350 recycling sites close to customers, typically near office buildings, communities, and campuses, where most orders are placed. The most successful site has a 74% recycling rate. To turn the waste collected into other useful products, Meituan works with factories to make bicycle baffles, handbags, and cups. Companies have also raced to find a substitute for plastic. A cornstarch container is biodegradable and a popular substitute, but it is not leak-proof or less oil-resistant, making it less suitable for Chinese food. A smart solution offered by Hualong Packing Materials Co. is to insert a polyethylene film onto the containers, using a machine. After finishing their meal, customers can easily remove the film and clean it. Both the film and container can be recycled. Meanwhile, other companies have also innovated using paper-based materials. Zhongshan Dongyu New Materials Co. has worked with BASF to launch specially designed paper containers. Stora Enso, a global paper manufacturer, has made containers that are heat- and oil-resistant. Its products won top honors in Meituan’s Food Delivery Packaging and Incubation Competition in 2021. Moving forward, the end of takeaway plastic containers in the PRC is near even amid rising demand for food delivery. More new ideas and products will surely surface as the country strives toward achieving the goal of greener and a higher quality of development. As in other areas of e-commerce, the PRC’s rich experience provides useful lessons for other developing countries facing similar challenges. This article is adapted from the East Asia Blog Series published by the Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative (RKSI) website. [1] The estimate was also based on the average number of plastic containers used for an order (3.27 pieces), how common is plastic container used for food ordered online (over 80%) , and the plastic recycling rate (17.6% for all types).. Resources H.C. Tang and X. Zhuang. 2021. Eliminating Plastics in the Era of Food Delivery: The PRC’s Solutions on Reduce, Reuse, and Substitute. East Asia Blog Series. Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative. 8 December. Ask the Experts Hsiao Chink Tang Senior Economist, East Asia Department, Asian Development Bank Hsiao Chink Tang has over 20 years of professional experience in policy, research, training, and project management in a central bank, the academe and a multilateral institution. He currently heads the Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative (RKSI), a south–south sharing platform from ADB’s Beijing office. Xiaowei Zhuang Knowledge Analyst, Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative Xiaowei Zhuang is passionate about using her writing skills to tell development stories and connect to the audience. Previously, she used her research and knowledge management skills to provide technical expertise to UNICEF and World Bank. She holds an MA in public policy from University of Chicago and a BS in Communications from University of Illinois. Asian Development Bank (ADB) The Asian Development Bank is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance. Follow Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Leave your question or comment in the section below: View the discussion thread.