In September, iFood released the 2021 Impact Report, its first ESG (environmental and social governance) report. The document brings together the company's actions and results in the areas of education, environment and inclusion from March 2021 — and you can access the PDF online, in the version complete or in summarized.
In this report —the second in the series on the Impact Report—, the iFood News will showcase iFood's initiatives in the environmental area, which focuses on company's public commitment to end plastic pollution from delivery and become carbon neutral by 2025 (with at least 50% of deliveries being made in non-polluting modes).
This purpose is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals number 13 of the United Nations: action against global climate change. “Concern for the environment is intrinsic to our operation, with a focus on reducing CO emissions2 of vehicles used in deliveries and the volume of plastic”, says André Borges, head of sustainability at iFood. “We want to leave the planet in a better condition than it is today.”
Therefore, he highlights non-polluting modes and the development of sustainable packaging for delivery as two promising fronts in iFood's actions in relation to the environment. “Many companies are talking about being carbon neutral. Where we can make a difference is in using innovation and technology to make our mark on these major projects.”
The results obtained in the report leave André optimistic. “It was a year in which we focused on getting projects off the ground and discovering new partners. What made me most satisfied was discovering promising ways to reach our goals. Now we have good options at hand to act and gain scale and enhance results”, he says.
What is iFood doing for the environment?
Neutralized deliveries
Since July 2021, all deliveries made through iFood have been neutral in terms of polluting gas emissions. In other words, when the order reaches you, the entire emission of pollutants from that delivery has already been compensated in advance. As? iFood calculates the volume of emissions according to sales expectations and acquires carbon credits to neutralize them.
Non-polluting modes
Tembici and iFood together created the iFood Pedal, the world's first bicycle rental service (traditional or electric) exclusively for delivery people. This sharing system is already used by 15,000 couriers across the country.
Together, they made 5.7 million deliveries by pedaling, which avoided the emission of a thousand tons of CO2 In the atmosphere. “iFood Pedal showed relevant numbers and is establishing itself as a good bet for the company”, comments André. “It’s a mature project.”
Furthermore, in 2022, the iFood launched an electric motorcycle designed with VOLTZ exclusively for delivery drivers. “So far it has had good acceptance and has boosted the market in Brazil”, says André. “Our goal was for the delivery person to be able to pay the monthly payment for the motorcycle with the savings they would make on gasoline. And we did it with VOLTZ.”
In the same year, the company became the first in the Americas to use drones in delivery. Both joined the ADA robot, developed in partnership with Synkar and which uses artificial intelligence to speed up deliveries.
Reducing the use of plastic
Since June 2021, anyone ordering on the iFood app has the option of do away with sending forks, spoons, knives, straws and other plastic items on delivery, an initiative of the “Friends of Nature” campaign. Result: more than 200 million orders have already been delivered without these items to more than 36 million Brazilians (which means 510 tons less plastic to discard).
Sustainable packaging
In partnership with Suzano, iFood launched the “Packaging of the Future” challenge to encourage the development of new sustainable packaging molds for delivery. In iFood Shop there is already a special section where restaurants can buy sustainable packaging. “Our big dream is to have sustainable packaging that is cheaper than plastic packaging”, reveals André.
Support for recycling
To encourage people to recycle, iFood implemented 80 PEVs (Voluntary Delivery Point) in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Bahia. This initiative seeks strengthen the recycling chain and dispose of waste correctly. Furthermore, the company adopted “Recicla BOT”, an environmental education tool built in partnership with triciclos to answer questions about recycling.
Bag recycling
The project I've Been Bag, carried out in partnership with Greening and Retalhar, puts reverse logistics into practice: when the bag's useful life ends, it does not go to landfill — it becomes other products. As a result, 157,058 bags have already been recovered.
Plastic-free ocean
In July 2021, the iFood signed a public commitment to reduce single-use plastics in deliveries, #DeLivreDePlástico, organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the main environmental authority in the United Nations (UN) system, and by Oceana, the largest non-profit non-governmental organization focused on protecting our oceans .
Project financing
iFood is a co-financier of XPrize, a global leader in the realization and operation
of incentive programs to solve major challenges facing humanity
in the areas of space, oceans, learning, health, energy, environment
environment, security, transport and robotics.
