From resorting to eco-friendly or even natural packaging materials, the restaurant industry plans to look at various ways to replace plastic.
From July 1 2022, single-use plastic has been banned according to guidelines issued by the Government of India . Single-use plastic constitutes the highest share of plastic manufactured and used from the packaging of items to bottles, polythene bags, face masks, coffee cups, trash bags, food packaging etc. One of the industries that has been into the usage of single-use plastic is the restaurant industry.
“Restaurateurs are also contributing towards ending the use of plastic. It’s a valiant decision and the need of the hour. Restaurateurs are standing in support of the government. Though their knees will be underwater because of the cost increase,” Jayant Gandhi , founder and CEO of Mellow Garden said.
He further shared that the environment is more important and we will support our government and our nation by avoiding the use of plastic. “We are coming up with various alternatives of plastic, using steel box or cutlery, paper straws, avoiding garbage plastic and other waste. We are introducing an eco-friendly and nature-based theme to serve our patrons in a beautiful and plastic-free manner,” he said.
Santosh Sreedhar, partner at Avalon Consulting feels that the single-use plastic ban in its current form is not going to impact the restaurant industry much except for some short-term inconvenience. A bulk of the plastic usage by restaurants has been for containers for parcels/home deliveries. However, the current ban does not cover these. The only items used by the restaurant industry that are banned are forks, spoons, straws and plastic carry bags below 75 microns.
“There are alternatives for each of these in the form of natural alternatives such as bamboo, wood, paper etc. that are already available. There may be a temporary impact because of the higher cost of these alternatives compared to plastics, which the restaurants will have to absorb. However, these do not constitute a large part of a restaurant’s spending and hence the impact is not going to be significant to impact demand or restaurant operations. Ultimately we may see some price adjustments for customers, but this will only be significant if the ban extends to containers,” Sreedhar added.
Taking a few positive steps, in response to the damage that plastic causes, Burger Rush has established a ‘Green Zone’ in their restaurant strictly prohibiting the use of plastic cups, spoons, or containers of any kind. has established a ‘Green Zone’ in their restaurant strictly prohibiting the use of plastic cups, spoons, or containers of any kind.
“This is a positive step, and we have also educated our staff about the drawbacks of using plastic, and we encourage them to cut back on their own usage as well. Plus to implement it we make sure that the food is delivered in eco-friendly bags, using paper as the primary packing material. We refrain from using plastic bags for our rubbish because we all have the power to significantly alter the way things are done in our particular countries. Protecting the environment requires corrective action. Hence, we are welcoming this initiative of our government for environment protection, though the cost of packaging will take a hike in the end, we know that food is the basic need and the environment is most essential,” Jayesh Sinha, founder and CEO of Burger Rush commented.
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