Today, DeliverZero announces it is working with Whole Foods Market Inc. to bring a reusable container option to the self-serve hot and cold food bars and counter deli at two Colorado locations. Customers can grab their food in DeliverZero reusable containers and pay a small deposit that's fully refunded upon returning the containers to the store. The reusable program will begin at two Whole Foods Market locations, its Ideal Market store in Denver and Boulder, Colorado.
DeliverZero was founded to address the climate effects of single-use packaging. In addition to the negative impacts single-use packaging has on our oceans and environment, emissions from manufacturing and shipping these materials contribute to climate change. Plastics are on track to account for 20% of oil consumption by 2050 and currently account for 45% of landfill materials. Each year nearly 1 trillion pieces of single use packaging are used by restaurants and food service businesses in the U.S., costing $6bn to businesses and city governments in disposal.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to work with this major market-mover in Colorado to bring reuse to more people,” said Lauren Sweeney, CEO & Co-founder of DeliverZero. “Now customers in Denver and Boulder can be a part of the solution when they take their prepared food to-go from Ideal Market stores.”
How it works: When customers opt-in, they simply pack their food in a DeliverZero reusable container and bring it to the check-out counter just as they would for food they selected in single-use packaging. The POS will charge a fully-refundable deposit between $1.00 - $2.00 depending on size, which the customer will get back when they return their reusable containers to the same Ideal Market stores in Denver or Boulder.
DeliverZero has also worked with government partners in the region. For example, the City of Boulder and DeliverZero have partnered to help local foodservice operators and customers ditch takeout waste and switch to reusable containers. This joint effort supports the city’s commitment to build a more circular economy that prevents waste from being made in the first place through reuse, repair and reduced consumption. The partnership has already prevented more than 6,000 single-use containers from ending up in the landfill and that number is expected to grow as more Boulder restaurants join DeliverZero’s network.
“We are proud to support a more sustainable and accessible food takeout option in Boulder,” said City of Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett. “Switching to durable takeout containers is not only convenient but is an important step toward building a culture of reuse in our community. It also gives us the opportunity to create a more circular system by keeping containers in use and out of the landfill.”
About DeliverZero:
DeliverZero is a reusable packaging solution that eliminates packaging waste from food delivery and takeout. As a neutral network of returnable, reusable food containers, we use machine learning to make it easy for merchants, delivery platforms, and POS systems to offer customers takeout and delivery in reusable containers that can be returned to any point on our network. Learn more at https://www.deliverzero.com/.