As a Brazilian company Concerned with the country's environmental issues, iFood is now part of a coalition with other companies and industries to make more people aware of how to dispose of their waste correctly.
This is the objective of movement Together for Recycling, in which iFood joins other large companies – such as Cargill, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever – to change the way Brazilians consume and dispose of waste and encourage circular economy.
Today, the percentage of waste that is recycled in Brazil is low: 4%, according to Abrelpe (Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Companies).
Furthermore, 80% of Brazilians show little or no interest in the topic of sustainability, according to Kantar research.
And although 44% of people try to buy eco-friendly packaging in the country, only 9% regularly avoid plastic packaging.
Given this scenario, the Together for Recycling movement aims to increase the population's knowledge and information on the subject.
The idea is to show that, if everyone does their part, the collective impact will be great. In this sense, the first step is to change people's mentality regarding waste.
The movement, then, foresees educational actions on various platforms, highlighting that packaging, for example, can be transformed into resources, raw materials and solutions if they are disposed of correctly.
recycled word
The first action directly involves the reframing of the word “garbage”, in a campaign created and produced by the Publicis agency aiming to encourage the transformation of waste generated during consumption.
It includes updating the meaning of the term in the dictionary itself. Thus, the Houaiss Dictionary of the Brazilian Language now includes, among the definitions of “garbage”, “any material that cannot yet be recycled, reused or composted”.
The updated entry is available in the digital version of the dictionary, as well as on Amazon and Alexa services.
The brands involved plan to reserve part of the time in their media campaigns to talk about the correct ways to dispose of packaging.
The coalition also plans to carry out research to deepen understanding of Brazilian behavior in relation to recycling.
Recycling culture
Promoting the circular economy, by the way, is already part of the iFood culture. /The company has projects that have already made recycling viable of more than 7,000 tons of waste thanks to awareness raising, community empowerment and training of cooperatives and collectors.
The thermal backpacks used by delivery partners on the platform are recycled, through the project I've Been Bag. This is a reverse logistics action that provides the correct destination for the material that makes up the bags.
“We constantly invest in innovation, research and development to become a reference in delivery operations without environmental impact”, says André Borges, head of Sustainability at iFood. “Initiatives such as Juntos Pela Reciclagem prove the importance of collaboration and joining forces to build a more sustainable future, seeking to encourage more conscious attitudes towards preserving the planet.”
