Reuse your takeaway box? Foodpanda partners with 40 restaurants to see if Hongkongers can cut use of plastic

Foodpanda will offer customers the choice of having their meals delivered in reusable containers from Monday, although the option will only be available in a few parts of Hong Kong Island during the initial phase.

Customers must pay a HK$10 (US$1.27) deposit for the plastic boxes, which they will have to return to collection points in office buildings and malls in Central, Admiralty, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. There are seven collection points for a start, with two more to be added.

They will be rewarded with a HK$10 coupon for each container they return and this can be used for their next purchase at 40 restaurants involved in the trial. But if they do not return the container, their deposit will be forfeited. They can redeem up to HK$200 worth of coupons each time.

Foodpanda is working with World Wide Fund For Nature Hong Kong to offer up to 8,000 reusable boxes to participating restaurants in an 11-month trial aimed at reducing the use of plastic containers that add to the city’s garbage.

It conceded that the number was only a small fraction of daily orders, but it hoped to gauge public acceptance before expanding the scheme.

Foodpanda managing director Ryan Lai told the Post that ordering food online had become the norm in Hong Kong in recent years, and the company was responding to its customers by trying to do more for the environment.

“We have seen that awareness about environmental protection and sustainability among our users has grown stronger recently,” he said. “We also conducted an internal study, and most respondents said they would consume more if restaurants provided reusable containers.”