Dear readers, this week we ordered in and pondered the plastics crisis...
Tallula’s Restaurant in Santa Monica, California, prioritizes buying seasonal produce from local farmers who practice regenerative agriculture to minimize its ecological footprint. For takeout and delivery orders, the staff packs tacos and heaps of steaming nachos in recyclable aluminum boxes and biodegradable paper bowls.
But sourcing quality, affordable, eco-friendly containers can be difficult, said Monica Heffron, executive project manager for the restaurant group that owns Tallula’s. They can be pricey and some simply don’t hold food as well as conventional plastic ones.
Lots of restaurants like Tallula’s struggle with how to reduce the environmental impact of takeout, as do customers.
“By next year, there will be about 400 million tons of plastic produced on Earth,” said Paul Kradin, co-founder and chief sustainability officer at delivery app startup JYBE. About half of that includes single-use items — including flatware and serving containers for restaurant takeout and delivery, which has ramped up significantly since the start of the pandemic. Some 42% of restaurants added delivery options this year, and DoorDash has seen a 110% increase in sales.
Kradin wants JYBE to be part of the solution as it helps restaurants switch to plastic alternatives while giving environmentally conscious diners a quick way to find restaurants that will box up their orders with the Earth in mind. It's one of a number of companies trying to make to-go dining less damaging to the planet.
What do you think? We'd love to hear from you. Cheers, Laura and Amanda | 
