TAIPEI (TVBS News) — After more than 2 years of coexisting with the pandemic, takeout foods have become the norm. With convenience, however, Taiwan has also seen an increase in waste from takeout boxes and containers. With this observation in mind, a Taiwanese startup came up with a bright and simple idea: recycling lunch boxes.
Tsai Chi-yu, CEO of LooPick, wants to help cut back on the waste created, so she launched her own platform through which recyclable meal boxes are used for takeout. The 23-year-old founder explained the public has become more open to reusable meal boxes amid the pandemic.
"They are gradually more accepting of this type of recirculation model because they feel that sustainability is something that should be taken seriously," she said. At present, the new system has already saved more than 46,000 single-use meal boxes. The platform has collaborated with various restaurants across the country.
To order a meal with reusable lunch boxes, all you need to do is register online for the restaurant you want to order from and the meal.
Then, a delivery person will deliver the meal to your doorstep. When you're finished, the company will come back to collect the lunch boxes and send them to a dishwashing service to clean and sanitize them for future use.
As many businesses strive to become more environmentally friendly, this startup also makes sure that all reusable meal boxes are made from polypropylene materials. This means it can be 100% recycled into other products after the containers have run their course, effectively cutting back on additional waste.