The important choice of takeaway packaging and future

Takeaway packaging serves a functional role to preserve and protect the food during the transport from takeaway kitchen to the consumer. It can further be used to store the food at home for future use. Smart businesses however use their packaging as an important ingredient of their marketing and a signature of their entire marketing strategy.

Packaging is the first point of contact with the customer and delivers the company brand identity and message of quality, customer service and environmental responsibility. When deciding on takeaway packaging colours, size, shape and materials are all important. Whilst colours reflect the business brand and identity, the size and shape can be used to reduce and avoid waste. Material of takeaway containers has also received a huge interest as the market for food delivery experiences its fast expansion.

There is now increasing pressure from regulators and customers for sustainable fast food packaging. Consumers increasingly demand biodegradable and recyclable packaging and takeaway businesses must address these legitimate consumer demands in their business strategy.

An ideal takeaway packing should be protective, sustainable, attractive, inexpensive and have the least impact on the environment. It is not easy to find all these qualities in a food packaging and cost seems to be a defining factor in most cases. Fortunately there are some very interesting research and innovations in the field of food packaging that may revolutionize the way that we use food packaging for takeaway deliveries. These innovations range from edible packaging to re-used containers.

Edible Wrapper

The Double Down sandwich from KFC in Hong Kong has no bun and instead uses an edible wrapper. The innovative wrapper is made of rice paper and printed with edible ink to make it completely edible.

Compastable Packaging

The compostable packaging is turned completely into compost after use. An example is the cookies packaging from Dutch baker Eigen Deeg that is made from the remains of stems and leaves, and is completely plastic-free. It can be disposed of as organic waste, as everything including label is compostable.

Seed-infused packaging

The packaging of the Bloom chocolate bars are infused with seeds and can be planted instead of throwing away to grow your own plant. The infused seeds infused are of the plant that has flavoured the chocolate. For example if you plant the wrapper of the Mint chocolate it grows into mint and the wrapper for the rose chocolate grows into roses.

PizzaRound

PizzaRound is completely plant-based compostable pizza box for pizza delivery. The innovative circular pizza container is made from 80% sugarcane and 20% bamboo, and helps to keep the delivery pizzas hotter, crisper and free of the cardboard taste.

The PizzaRound is ovenable to 450°, so pizzas can be reheated in the box that it was delivered in. The low cost of PizzaRound of around 10p per container makes it a very attractive solution for the Pizza delivery.

Reusable Packaging

Some innovative companies have been working on the concept of recyclable packaging that can be washed and re-used. The consumer is normally charged a returnable deposit that gets refunded when the packaging is returned. One such company is the London based Priestman Goode who has developed an attractive range of Bento style food packaging. The Bioplastic for the containers - made from by-product from the cacao industry whilst the insulation (mycellium) is a material that is grown using waste from the food industry.

Future is clean

The growth in the takeaway delivery market and its future potential has given the incentive to some innovative companies to come up with cleaner solutions for the fast food packaging that can minimizes the footprint on the environment and help to maintain the food quality during the delivery process. Whatever happens, there is one thing for sure, the future is going to be clean and plastic-free.