Friends of Nature Campaign mobilizes 82% from customers to dispense cutlery, cups and straws when ordering
Did you order delivery to eat at home — or do you take your cutlery to work? Since June 2021, it has been possible to do without sending forks, spoons, knives and plastic straws when ordering on iFood.
The public jumped on the bandwagon, and the result was that, in eight months, more than 100 million deliveries were made without plastic items — and almost 925 tons of the material stopped circulating with meals.
This is an initiative of the Friends of Nature campaign, which was created to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics in delivery and support the iFood Regenera goal of eliminate plastic pollution from deliveries by 2025.
“Putting on the app the option of not ordering cutlery and straws gives the consumer the opportunity to reflect on the real need for use and, with a very simple action, to become involved in the commitment to reduce environmental impact”, comments Camila Borges, analyst senior sustainability officer at iFood.
Encouraging the reduction of plastic consumption in delivery is the main objective of Amigos da Natureza, which joins other important iFood Regenera actions, such as encouraging recycling and the packaging innovation to bring sustainable solutions.
“To reduce plastic waste, we have already made biodegradable and recyclable packaging available to restaurants at the iFood Shop. We are doing strong work to increase the range of options and make them more accessible”, says Fabiane Staschower, EMI (Education, Environment and Inclusion) specialist at iFood.
Restaurants that are part of Amigos da Natureza can ask customers if it is necessary to send plastic items with the order or inform them that they no longer send cutlery and straws with the meal.
All together to eliminate plastic pollution
More than 119 thousand restaurants joined the campaign in the first few months, representing around 41% of the total number of establishments registered with iFood. “This is just the beginning: we want to reach 100%”, comments Fabiane. At the other end, 82% of customers respond in the app that they would prefer not to receive plastic cutlery and straws.
At the end of the process, supporting recycling reinforces actions to reduce the use of plastic. “It is not always possible to remove plastic from the operation, as some items cannot yet be replaced and in some situations the customer needs cutlery, to eat outside the home, for example. Everything we cannot eliminate, we can recycle to help eliminate plastic pollution”, says Fabiane.
With an eye on this goal, in 2021 iFood also signed a public commitment to the #DeLivreDePlástico campaign, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the NGO Oceana. In addition to stopping sending plastic cutlery, plates, cups, napkins and straws, iFood will work to reduce the supply of disposable plastic bags and packaging.
