In Seoul City, almost every restaurant uses disposable products such as styrofoam containers and plastic forks for delivery orders. About 54 million disposable containers were used for delivery per month in 2021. This creates a major waste problem.

Seoul City Government team up with Delivery Hero Korea, the operator of Yogiyo, the Korea Franchise Association, and Itgreen (a company specialized in the distribution and collection of reusable food containers), to demonstrate a three-month project, starting October 7th, 2021, designed to encourage delivery restaurants and customers to use reusable containers and utensils. 

Delivery Hero Korea will create a special section in Yogiyo where customers can choose to receive their orders packed inside reusable food containers, while the Korea Franchise Association encourages local restaurants to participate in the green project. Itgreen will provide reusable containers to restaurants and resupply them after collecting and cleaning.

About 100 popular delivery restaurants in the southern district of Gangnam, South Korea's center of finance and fashion trends, will participate in the project. Used containers will be put in a bag and left outside the door of customers' homes or offices. An extra fee of 500 won (around €0.37 or $0.42) will be charged if a customer chooses to receive food in reusable containers.  

Through the pilot project, the capital city found that the rate of consumers choosing reusable dishes over disposable containers has increased by 30 percent every week.

Continuing the progress, the Seoul city government joined hands with four popular food delivery service operators -- Baedal Minjok, Yogiyo, Coupang Eats, and Ddangyo -- to expand the number of partner restaurants to up to 500. 

Photo by Sandra Harris on Unsplash