Everbox

This was an idea to begin to rid the world of single use plastics. Starting with a deposit return scheme for fast food takeaway containers. “Everbox”, as in the container will be used repeatedly. Each container would have a QR code and/or RFID tag to aid in check-out and receiving back of your deposit once the container is returned to a collection bin. Once returned, the user would receive their money back and the containers would be cleaned and sent back to the restaurant. This system is not new. We see it mainly in B2B (business-to-business) transactions. For example: beer kegs, gas cylinders, crates for agricultural, pallets, etc. Items that have secondhand value tend to get used repeatedly, including containers made of durable plastics.

Where did the inspiration for this come from? Having completed multiple beach clean-ups, it was clear of the impacts that “single use anything” has on the environment. Plastic is now all over the planet. Worse in developing countries, slightly better in developed countries. Because of the cheapness of plastic packaging, there is no incentive for people to return or recycle it. Society's current approach is a plea to our morality.

A friend and I therefore decided that this is a problem worth working on. We decided to start with restaurants and thought that having an app for restaurants to scan containers and check out containers to customers would be a good idea. Customers then having the same app to scan and return items. The restaurants will charge a “deposit” to the customers, of which we would pay back to the customer when we collect the containers. We would then charge a fee for washing and returning the containers to the restaurant. This idea was largely taken from what some businesses were doing in other parts of the world. Here are some examples of companies that I followed: Loop, ZeroCo, Fill, ClubZero. I have included some thoughts about these companies below.

We set off doing research on recycling, containers, QR codes, RFID tags, washing standards, and mass dish washing machines. We put together a survey for restaurants and walked around Cape Town City talking to restaurant owners to get a feel for what they thought of the idea. We did a similar survey with people walking in the streets and along the Cape Town coastline. The thoughts were mixed. This was just after the mask wearing mandate of Covid had ended and many restaurants were making a struggling comeback. Some of the feedback revealed that restaurants were worried about the additional effort and potential additional cost (again considering single use plastic is dirt cheap). They also had concerns about bespoke packaging for their brand and the ability to change it as and when is needed. Most of the everyday people we spoke to seemed keen on the idea but worried about convenience and where the collections bins would be. Having already adapted to sorting waste in their homes, they now would have to return containers or schedule a pick up!

It was around this time (June 2021) when the mass riots in South Africa broke out, which provided the catalyst for my immigration. Subsequently I did not pursue the idea further, seeking to pick it up again in the UK. I imagined London was fully embracing the “reuse” idea with many companies trying it out, and many “bring your own container” shops were seemingly all over the city. How wrong I was. This perception turned out to be false. Whilst traversing the city I failed to randomly stumble upon such a business. Observing what most UK high streets look like after a Friday or Saturday night out made me realize that most people are not driven enough to go out of their way to solve this problem.

I have not pursued this any further believing now that the only way forward is for the invention of a packaging material that is “super” recyclable, durable, cheap, and mandated to be used for all packaging types. If such a material could be easily broken down and used in the home to mould new items through 3D printing etc. that would be interesting. Ultimately the way forward would be to work with existing systems. Humans will not sacrifice convenience. Problem solving should make life easier for people.

Since abandoning the idea, most of the businesses I aspired towards have shut. Here are some commentary on some of these companies:

ZeroCo – ZeroCo has now shut. They made durable detergent containers that could be refilled. The refill pouches were posted to your doorstep with a prepaid return envelope so that you could return the pouches to them for reuse.

Loop – Loop attempted to partner with large manufacturing companies such as Nestle and Unilever to create more durable packing for a selection of products. Thereby adopting a deposit return scheme. They completed a trial run of this offering with select Tesco stores dotted around the midlands in the UK. You can find out more about this trial here. Their lessons learned were similar to the conclusions I drew. Their findings were “50% of their customers reported that their main motivation to buy reusable products was because they wanted to do their bit for the planet”. However Tesco found that the general public does not fully appreciate the differences and benefits of reuse when compared to recycling. This is now a couple of years ago and as of writing I have not seen a similar attempt at this since.

Fill – Fill Refill is not a deposit return scheme, but offers laundry detergents, soaps etc. in reusable glass bottles. They are still going.

ClubZero – This company started off with a coffee cup return scheme in Universities in London. This was the idea that I intended to try and emulate. They have tried various ideas over the years and seem to have settled on providing reusable systems for events and large corporates who have canteens. Both of which are great ideas. However the restaurant space hasn't taken off as they planned.

Here are some further lessons learned:

• It's very awkward going up to random people on the street. But most people are willing to talk. It does help if you look like a formal business and have a tangible product for people to try;
• Most people don't want to sacrifice on convenience if they don't have to. There is a good portion of the population who doesn't care about the environment. All they care about is whether or not their own problems are being solved;
• Most plastic types are not readily recycled and the recycling business is messy;
• Single use plastic is dirt cheap;
• When problem solving you should look to work with existing systems. Human progress iterates on old systems and seldom invents new processes completely from scratch. Educating the consumer and getting them to relinquish convenience to suit your service is always going to be hard to achieve mass market adoption, unless a government mandates this;
• Food hygiene standards are crucial in the hospitality industry;
• When judging a startup's credibility you should look at who's funding them. Crowdfunding alone may indicate an inability to get funding from people who know what they're doing.