With the average office worker using 500 coffee cups and throwing away 156 plastic bottles a year, imagine how much food packaging waste an entire office will generate. And that’s not counting the wrappers and the plastic containers. The EPA even estimates that food packaging materials make up almost 50% of municipal solid waste in the USA.
With growing climate change concerns, more and more companies are adopting sustainability initiatives. From installing solar panels, educating employees on environmental issues, and streamlining their manufacturing processes, companies are trying to reduce their environmental impact.
But there are certain factors that often go overlooked. Many initiatives don’t account for their workplace food programs, which can be a true differentiator.
When you’re feeding hundreds of employees every day, takeout containers, plastic water bottles, and single use coffee cups can add up quickly. And those literal tons of waste all end up in landfills.
Implementing a sustainable workplace food program is one of the best ways to make your company greener. Minimizing food packaging waste and prioritizing the use of sustainable food packaging solutions is a great place to start.
Sustainable packaging refers to food packaging solutions that are designed to minimize environmental impact. It mainly involves the use of materials that meet certain sustainability metrics, such as compostable, biodegradable, recyclable, or recycled materials.
For instance, you may ditch cling wraps and clear plastic boxes in favor of paper bags or recycled paperboard boxes to serve sandwiches.
The goal of sustainable packaging is to reduce waste and lower the consumption of natural resources, which means optimizing designs to reduce the amount of material used.
When it comes to sustainable food packaging solutions, there are a surprising number of options to suit a variety of needs. Whether you need to package sandwiches, hot dishes, or even beverages, there are plenty of sustainable options available.
Using recyclable and reusable materials extends the packaging life cycle, keeping them out of landfills and reducing waste. Materials such as glass, aluminum, plastic, and tin can all be recycled. Given that these can take up to hundreds, or in the case of glass, millions of years to decompose, it’s important to extend their lifecycles as much as possible. Because they’re non-porous, these materials are the best sustainable packaging method for beverages.
Paper and cardboard can also be recycled. Although these materials typically break down quickly, they still require natural resources to produce. By recycling them, you reduce the amount of trees that are needed to keep up with demand.
There are plenty of sustainable food packaging material alternatives. Eco-friendly options made from plant-based materials are biodegradable and compostable. Plastics and other petroleum based products leave behind harmful chemicals as they break down. Biodegradable packaging decomposes naturally into the earth in a matter of months (or sometimes even weeks). All without leaving toxic residue, minimizing environmental impact.
There are a number of plant-based packaging alternatives on the market. Cornstarch packaging is a popular eco-friendly alternative to Styrofoam. This is a particularly important breakthrough, as Styrofoam never decomposes and cannot be recycled.
Other alternatives include mushroom-based materials and plant-based plastics. It’s also worth noting that paper and cardboard decompose quickly, so they already fall under this category.
Because this category is so broad, these sustainable food packaging materials can be suitable for packing a wide variety of foods. Dry goods, high-moisture foods, and hot meals can all be packed in biodegradable materials.
You can also find sustainable food packaging solutions made of recycled material. This is great for conserving natural resources and keeping waste out of landfills.
Napkins made of recycled materials are already fairly common, but recycled products are being used in packaging, too. Recycled paper tends to be ideal for wrapping dry foods like sandwiches and pastries. Cardboard is more durable and can be used for low-moisture hot foods such as pizza.
Recycled plastic and glass also meet several sustainability metrics, as it gives second life to plastic that’s already in circulation. These can be used for beverages and high-moisture foods.
Recycled materials are versatile, making them incredibly useful and environmentally conscious.
Here’s a quick summary:
Before you invest too heavily in sustainable food packaging solutions, you may want to know why this matters. Why should you go through the trouble of choosing sustainable alternatives? Let’s break down the key benefits.
Sustainable food packaging means less packaging waste because you’re using sustainable food packaging materials that are reusable and recyclable, which mitigates environmental pollution. With fewer resources going into this type of packaging, you can quickly lower your organization’s carbon footprint.
And the waste that you do create is compostable or biodegradable, so it doesn’t harm the Earth. On top of this, biodegradable packaging requires less energy to produce, resulting in lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Companies may also ditch the packaging altogether and opt for dining solutions where employees can enjoy freshly cooked meals on-site. This eliminates the need for individual packing. This also saves you the trouble of searching for restaurants that use sustainable materials for their takeaway boxes.
On that note, when employees can clearly see that you care about them, they’re more likely to be satisfied. In fact, Aflac found that 84% of employees who believe their employers care about them report high job satisfaction.
Making more sustainable food packaging choices also helps you align with employees’ values. According to PwC, 16% of employees factor in a company's environmental practices when choosing where to work.
So it’s no wonder that 96% of Millennial employees expect their employers to take necessary steps toward sustainability.
All these numbers prove that employees enjoy working for companies that make sustainability a priority. And higher job satisfaction leads to higher employee retention. Implementing sustainable practice benefits the environment, the employees, and the company as a whole.
Sustainability in the workplace goes beyond your choice of food packaging. It’s about making intentional choices to cut waste and minimize your overall environmental impact. Here are some practical tips to adopt sustainable workplace dining practices.
When employees order food from outside, it creates a ton of food packaging waste. Think about how many packaged items come with your average lunch order. That’s a lot of waste if you add up the packaging from all your employee lunches throughout the year.
So the best way to decrease packaging waste is by offering on-site dining solutions. This could involve setting up an office cafeteria and having guest restaurants cook on-site. If there’s limited space for food prep, you can have restaurants prepare meals off-site and serve them in the office
This eliminates the need for food packaging altogether, helping you cut back on overall waste.
Food packaging isn’t just limited to finished meals. It also relates to the packaging used for storing and transporting ingredients. So even with on-site dining, you still need to look at how the ingredients arrive at the kitchen.
A complete packaging overhaul helps you address sustainability concerns throughout the journey. For example, reusable crates are a more sustainable option than single-use plastic bags.
Even if food delivery is the most viable option for your business, there are ways to make more sustainable choices. Office event catering, for instance, eliminates the need for individually packaged meals. Instead, the food is packaged in bulk, often in reusable containers.
Alternatively, you can also use office food delivery services where employees choose their own meals from a group of rotating restaurants. The meals are then consolidated and delivered in bulk by a dedicated driver. So although you're still getting individually packaged meals, you lessen the number of trips from restaurant to office, minimizing carbon emissions.
The right partners can make a huge difference for your sustainability efforts. For instance, a restaurant that uses reusable containers creates less food packaging waste than one that leans heavily on single-use plastic. Similarly, a catering service that sources local produce has a much lower carbon footprint than one that uses imported, off-season ingredients.This makes it crucial to partner with providers who make sustainability a priority. Vet them thoroughly to see what policies they have in place to reduce their environmental impact. That way, you can get individual meal deliveries from restaurants that make eco-friendly packaging choices.
Packaging waste isn’t the only waste that your workplace dining program creates. Overordering, overproduction, and oversized portions create food waste that’s not only unsustainable but eats away at your bottom line as well.
This is why you need to accurately plan for demand. Use pre-order models where meals are prepared based on exact demand. Look at your ordering data and attendance patterns to forecast daily needs and source your supply accordingly.
Fooda offers corporate dining solutions that are built to support your sustainability goals. From on-site dining setups to individual packaged meals, you can find flexible options designed to meet your unique business needs.
With Fooda Popup, you can bring in guest restaurants to and serve fresh and tasty meals, minus the individual packaging. This drastically reduces food packaging waste.
Plus, employees get to choose from a rotating lineup of cuisines, which fights menu fatigue. So they’re less likely to create plate waste just because they’re tired of having the same thing over and over again. Not to mention that they get to enjoy tasty and authentic meals cooked by the best local chefs. And when the food’s good, you’re less likely to see leftovers.
Fooda’s technology also makes it easier to plan your menu based on employee demand. You can track order history and attendance trends to bring in the right restaurants at the right time.
If you want a larger-scale solution, Orange by Fooda is a dynamic, sustainable evolution of the traditional workplace cafeteria. Like Popups, Orange gives employees access to delicious, local food right in the office. Everything is served from bulk containers rather than individual packages, cutting down on waste.
Orange cafeterias are built to be more dynamic, exciting, and sustainable than legacy cafeterias. Operations can be scaled up or down based on participation and attendance patterns. If Fridays are light, you won’t have an entire cafeteria stocked with food nobody’s going to eat.
When catering or on-site cooking isn’t an option, Fooda’s Office Lunch Delivery service streamlines individual meal orders. Your employees place their orders from a rotating selection of restaurants. This takes the guesswork out of meal planning. Because food is prepared on a pre-order basis, you only get the exact amount that you need.
Once the food is ready, a dedicated Fooda staff member delivers the entire order in bulk straight to your office. This means fewer trips and lower carbon emissions.
Ready to make more sustainable dining choices at work? Talk to Fooda today and find a solution that works for you.
Is sustainable food packaging more expensive?
Oftentimes, yes. Traditional petroleum-based packaging already has well-established supply chains, making the manufacturing process more cost-effective. Sustainable packaging also tends to have a higher raw materials cost. That being said, as these manufacturing gaps begin to close, prices are likely to drop in the future.
How can I measure the environmental impact of my current workplace dining program?
Tracking food packaging waste, food waste, and delivery frequency gives you a baseline. When you partner with Fooda, we can help you analyze ordering patterns, identify waste sources, and implement solutions that show measurable improvement over time.
How do I reduce food packaging waste when employees work hybrid schedules?
Pre-order systems tied to actual attendance eliminate over-ordering and excess packaging. Fooda’s app has this functionality built in for all of our lunch services. Employees order only when they're in office, and meals are prepared based on confirmed demand rather than estimates. Fooda also has AI-powered reporting, allowing us to analyze participation data and scale operations accordingly.
