Luxury Takeout Packaging Becomes a White Elephant: Experts Call for More Consumer Choice

China Consumer News reports:

Order claypot rice and a clay pot may arrive with it; buy grilled fish and a stainless-steel baking tray may come along. The novelty fades quickly, and the items can soon feel like clutter. Experts therefore suggest that food-delivery packaging should give consumers more choices to reduce packaging waste, while consumer environmental education should be strengthened so greener choices can push businesses toward greener services.

Takeout Arrives with “Luxury” Packaging

A university student surnamed Wang in Guangzhou told China Consumer News that the claypot rice he ordered on a delivery platform arrived in a clay pot; after finishing the meal, he was unsure what to do with the pot. Beijing consumer Ms. Jiang once ordered a hotpot ingredient set on a delivery platform and unexpectedly received a pot and a stand as well.

Are today's takeout orders all this “luxurious”? After reviewing user-submitted photos in claypot rice reviews on a delivery platform, the China Consumer News reporter found that some shops use disposable aluminum foil rice boxes, while others deliver in clay pots. The reporter bought a cured-meat claypot rice priced at 39.8 yuan and a preserved-egg-and-lean-pork congee priced at 25 yuan from one shop. On arrival, the claypot rice had an insulated paper shell on the outside, high-temperature-resistant aluminum foil in the middle, and an ordinary large-bowl-sized clay pot on the inside.

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Image: The claypot rice purchased by the reporter came with a clay pot.

Later, the reporter bought a green Sichuan peppercorn sea bass grilled fish for 79 yuan on another delivery platform. This time, the fish arrived with a stainless-steel baking tray. The fish, soup, and side dishes were each packed separately in sealed plastic bags.

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Image: The grilled fish purchased by the reporter came with a stainless-steel baking tray.

No Choice in Takeout Packaging

The packaging fee for the reporter's claypot rice order was 3 yuan. The clay pot was the most ordinary single-serving type. Although some user reviews described such pots as inexpensive and of low quality and questioned their reliability for reuse, the reporter washed and kept it. If it happens again, however, it may be thrown away. The stainless-steel baking tray from the grilled-fish order was much thinner than a typical tray; the reporter also washed and kept it but could not think of a practical use.

The reporter's investigation found that many consumers share similar feelings. Student Wang said he initially found it interesting, but after washing and setting it aside, it felt useless; he also wondered whether mailing the pot home would be worth the shipping cost.

Ms. Jiang told the reporter that such packaging is not entirely without benefits. When hosting friends at home, ready-made pots and pans can look presentable and save effort, she said, but for frequent family meals, the packaging feels like a white elephant. She believes it would be better if consumers had more choices when ordering.

Tang Jiansheng, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Consumer Council, told China Consumer News that consumers see such “luxury” takeout packaging as both burdensome and wasteful because they cannot choose a packaging format that fits their needs during purchase. “After years of environmental education in many areas, consumers today already have relatively strong environmental awareness. But with packaging, they can only accept what is given, which creates a heavy psychological burden: throwing it away feels wasteful, while keeping it takes up space and serves no purpose,” Tang said.

Strengthening Consumer Education to Push Merchants Toward Greener Packaging

In fact, the issue is not limited to takeout packaging; many food packages face similar problems.

Beijing consumer Ms. Liu told China Consumer News that some yogurt in supermarkets now comes in high-quality plastic storage boxes. “I started buying a certain brand of yogurt because I liked its square storage box, but after buying it many times, I ended up with too many boxes at home. In the end, I stopped buying that yogurt because of the storage box,” Ms. Liu said.

Some consumers also wonder: why can't companies offer recycling services for such takeout or food packaging?

“Because the state has strict rules on the cleaning, disinfection, and reuse of recycled tableware, the cost for companies to recycle it is far higher than buying new packaging, so most merchants do not recycle such packaging,” Tang Jiansheng said. Although recycling services cannot be provided, more and greener packaging options should be offered for different consumer groups and needs.

Tang Jiansheng also believes that environmental awareness education should be carried out in multiple forms for different consumer groups, so that consumers can use greener consumption choices to push merchants toward greener packaging.

According to reports, on May 1 this year, the Shanghai Consumer Council, together with Youku and Ele.me, released a public-service video against food waste titled “Let Us Together Launch a New 'Food' Fashion of the Clean Plate Campaign.” It was simultaneously pushed on official WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, and other internet platforms, and a “Clean Plate New Fashion” topic discussion was launched. The public-service video on the “Shanghai Consumer Council” official Douyin account received 700,000 views and 10,000 likes. Young people left enthusiastic comments, and many posted their own clean-plate responses.

“For takeout and food packaging, consumer environmental education also needs to be delivered in forms consumers enjoy. If non-eco-friendly packaging may lead to customer loss, companies will naturally take greener actions,” Tang Jiansheng said.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-379349.html