Uber Eats has announced a three-year partnership with Planet Ark, designed to help Australian restaurants move towards more sustainable packaging.
The first milestone between the two organisations has been consultation on a framework developed for Uber Eats by the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures. The peer-reviewed framework identifies whether a restaurant’s packaging meets certain sustainability criteria, including what’s considered reusable, recyclable or compostable within the framework.
Uber Eats has also announced up to $13 million in funding over the next three years to stimulate more sustainable packaging uptake through programs and subsidies.
This follows a pilot initiative in the last quarter of 2023, where Uber Eats offered all small to medium sized businesses access to $1 million in funding to support the purchase of more sustainable packaging through Detpak.
Uber Eats ANZ General Manager Bec Nyst says Uber Eats is thrilled to partner with Planet Ark to bring information to businesses that are looking to make the shift to more sustainable packaging.
“We’ve already seen the incredible impact our technology can have on the restaurant ecosystem. Since making cutlery opt-in, rather than being included by default, we estimate eaters have helped reduce the equivalent weight of four jumbo jets worth of plastic forks, spoons and the like ending up in Australian landfill,” she says.
“As we have increased our investment in this area and as we progress our partnership with Planet Ark, we’ll look to identify additional system changes to accelerate the uptake of more sustainable packaging options across Australia. We’ll use our scale and relationships with suppliers to improve the unit economics on more sustainable packaging and finally we will explore rewarding restaurants investing in this type of packaging with enhanced visibility on our platform.”
Planet Ark CEO Rebecca Gilling says there’s increasing expectation from consumers, governments and the community to reduce the environmental impact of packaging.
“With the recent announcement that the federal government will become the new regulator of packaging standards, mandating how packaging is designed, setting minimum recycled content requirements, and prohibiting harmful chemicals being used, all ladder up to encouraging developments,” she says.
“But while this is a positive outcome, there’s still much to do, and there’s a clear need to provide support to small businesses – including restaurants – on how to reduce packaging waste best. We’re delighted to be able to announce a multi-year effort with Uber Eats to help them assist their restaurant partners – and to lift the standard for the sector more broadly.”
Uber Eats will publish educational materials developed with Planet Ark online and provide research to the Restaurant & Catering Association.
