Written evidence submitted by Just Eat (PPP0024)

1.                 What progress have packaging manufacturers, food producers and retailers made in developing and using alternatives to, and reducing consumers’ use of plastic food and drink packaging?

1. Just Eat is a marketplace, not a packaging manufacturer, food producer or retailer. We work with more than 30,000 restaurants across the UK offering a diverse range of over 100 cuisine types - from grilled chicken, sushi and salads, to traditional curries and pizza. We don’t own or franchise restaurants on our platform, which operate independently of Just Eat.

2. Just Eat are committed to driving environmentally friendly behaviour across the wider UK takeaway sector. In recent years we have taken a number of proactive measures to reduce our restaurant partners’ and customers’ use of plastic food and drink packaging:

• In March 2018 we announced with immediate effect that we would stop selling single-use plastics through our online partner shop. Our shop now sells a range of eco-friendly recycled or recyclable paper-based products sourced from renewable sources.
• In April 2018 we trialled an opt-out option on our app and website to encourage customers not to receive plastics that they don’t need. The trial saw 20% of users requesting reduced plastic in their takeaway order.
• In June 2018 we partnered with innovative sustainable packaging start-up Skipping Rocks Lab to launch a trial of biodegradable seaweed-based sauce sachets  through a restaurant we work with in Southend. Over the course of the six-week trial, more than 6,000 sauce sachets were used. Following the success of our first trial, we launched an expanded eight-week trial in October 2018, spanning 10 restaurants in London. The trial was estimated to have stopped approximately 40,000 plastic sauce sachets from entering London homes, with 92% of customers saying that they would like to see more of their takeaway sauces come in this type of packaging.
• In February 2019 we co-hosted a “plastics hackathon” with Imperial College London and sustainability campaigner Dhruv Boruah, uniting over 100 sustainability experts, big brands, students, young people and scientists in a call to arms to find aimed at finding scalable cross-sector solutions to help tackle the global problem of plastic pollution. The event was supported by Environment Secretary Michael Gove.

2. What are the barriers to and opportunities for further innovation?

1. Just Eat continues to invest extensively in research to help develop and support innovative alternatives to plastic food and drink packaging.

2. Whilst we remain committed to driving environmentally friendly behaviour across the wider UK takeaway sector, DEFRA’s multiple consultations on DRS, EPR, >30% recycled plastic packaging content and consistent waste collection have created a complex legislative environment.

3. Many restaurants we work with are small independent outlets that don’t have the human or financial resources to invest in innovation themselves. We are calling on the Government and other third-party stakeholders to remove these resource-based barriers by offering more practical support to help these restaurants reduce their dependence on plastic packaging in favour of more innovative solutions. This support could include an extension of the Government’s £4m fund for innovative solutions to reducing plastic waste in the environment, which closed last year.

3. How do alternatives to plastic perform compared to plastic food and drink packaging?

1. Just Eat has successfully trialled seaweed-based sachets on two occasions in 2018 and are looking forward to launching a third trial later this year.

2. We are confident that the biodegradable seaweed sachet technology, developed in partnership with Skipping Rocks Lab, performs the same function as plastic and foil-based sachets and that there is increasing consumer demand for functional, environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic-based food and drink packaging.

3. Whilst these products represent encouraging progress for Just Eat, challenges remain in terms of introducing biodegradable packaging quality control systems as well as further education of consumers and the small, often independent food and drink businesses that serve them.  

4. Are there food and drink products for which it is essential to use plastic, or for which it is more difficult to develop and use alternatives?

1. Just Eat works with over 30,000 restaurants across the UK offering a diverse range of over 100 cuisine types - from grilled chicken, sushi and salads, to traditional curries and pizza. Each cuisine type presents its own complications in terms of developing sustainability focused alternatives to plastic packaging.

2. Whilst we don’t believe that any use of plastic packaging is essential in the takeaway industry, most of the restaurants we work with are small independent outlets that don’t have the human or financial resources to implement these changes themselves. We are calling on the Government and other third-party stakeholders to do more to help these restaurants reduce their dependence on plastic packaging.  

5. What impact will the following two Government proposals have on reducing plastic food and drink packaging?

a. an extended producer responsibility scheme for packaging to ensure the costs of collection and recycling are borne by those that produce packaging and place it on the market, and

1. Just Eat is a marketplace, not a packaging manufacturer, food producer or retailer. Whilst we are committed to proactively leading the wider UK takeaway sector on sustainable best practice, we would not be in scope of this proposal.

2. If an extended producer responsibility scheme was introduced for plastic packaging it is likely that a number of the restaurants we work with would be impacted in terms of the knock-on effect on packaging pricing. Given the size and independent nature of these restaurants it likely that this impact will be passed directly on to the consumer.

3. Whilst we accept that these top-down measures may be necessary in the context of the wider plastic pollution problem, we believe that the best way to promote sustainable practices across the UK takeaway industry is through the provision of external support, rather than punitive measures.

b. a tax on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled plastic, to encourage manufacturers to produce more sustainable packaging and create greater demand for recycled material?

1. Just Eat is a marketplace, not a packaging manufacturer, food producer or retailer. Whilst we are committed to proactively leading the wider UK takeaway sector on sustainable best practice, we would not be in scope of this proposal.

2. If a > 30% recycled content plastic packaging tax was introduced it is likely that a number of the restaurants we work with would be impacted in terms of the knock-on effect on packaging pricing. Given the size and independent nature of these restaurants it likely that this impact will be passed directly on to the consumer.

3. Whilst we accept that these top-down measures may be necessary in the context of the wider plastic pollution problem, we believe that the best way to promote sustainable practices across the UK takeaway industry is through the provision of external support, rather than putative measures.

6. Is there adequate research and development funding and support for alternatives to plastic food and drink packaging?

1. Just Eat has invested extensively in research to help develop and support alternatives to plastic food and drink packaging.

2. We are committed to driving environmentally friendly behaviour across the wider UK takeaway sector and would like to see the Government and other third-party stakeholders do more to help the small, often independently run takeaway restaurants up and down the country reduce their dependence on plastic packaging.  This support could include an extension of the Government’s £4m fund for innovative solutions to reducing plastic waste in the environment, which closed last year.  

May 2019