Single-use plastic food containers are a way of life if you order in regularly. But with the ban on single-use plastic, restaurants and shops have been hunting for alternatives for months. However, cost-effective options have proved to be hard to find, particularly for small businesses.
But now, Swiggy customers in parts of Bengaluru can choose a reusable container, thanks to InfinityBox started by IIT Kharagpur graduates Shashwat Gangwal and Keshav Godala. The company aims to make packaging a service, wherein single-use plastic containers are replaced by durable Tupperware-like containers.
For the duo, watching single-use plastic containers being burnt since recycling wasn’t an option was the catalyst that spurred them to look for alternative options while in college.
Currently, there is no extra cost for customers opting for reusable packaging and the packaging fee that is paid to restaurants is passed on to InfinityBox for orders served in their containers.
InfinityBox, which started out in late 2019, was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. It is now piloting the reusable containers in four locations, including with Swiggy in Bengaluru and Mumbai. In October, the company raised a seed round of $800,000 from Weh Ventures, Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath’s Rainmatter, and others.
“When you are a customer and you place an order at an affiliated restaurant, you will get an option to opt in for a reusable Tupperware container at no extra cost. We will come to your house and collect it, wash it and reuse it,” said Gangwal.
In Bengaluru, the pilot is live at some outlets of the Empire restaurant chain, Social, Swiggy’s cloud kitchen brand Homely and more.
Gangwal’s plan is not to stick just to Swiggy, but also work with meal subscription services and locations with big cafeterias, such as hospitals and airports.
“We would have served about 150,000 orders till date and prevented at least 20,000 kg of single-use plastic from being dumped into landfills,” Gangwal claims.
A few restaurateurs that Moneycontrol spoke to raised concerns about the industry moving from plastic to such options. Hygiene, scheduled services and customer interest are some of the primary concerns that have been flagged.
Vedant Pasari, who runs cloud kitchen chain Edabba, said that being a vegetarian, he would be reluctant to use such reusable containers and hygiene would also be another factor.
“Though we are concerned about sustainability and eco-friendly solutions, it's still very early to make such moves,” he added.
Another restaurateur said that customers may be concerned about the hygiene of such boxes and may choose disposable containers. In response, Gangwal likens it to plates and cutlery in restaurants, where people do not know what was served on the plate previously, and trust the restaurant’s hygiene standards.
Pratik Ranjan, who runs Salad Studio in Bellandur and uses InfinityBox, is satisfied with the service. “We have been associated with them for quite some time, and we were one of the first restaurants. So far this experience has been good.
“The carbon footprint has decreased, which is quite satisfying. For customers also it is a good experience, and so far the reviews have been good as they are getting it in reusable packaging,” he said.
Roughly 20 percent of Salad Studio’s Swiggy customers opt for reusable packaging.