Food delivery services, though affected, have wholeheartedly supported the plastic ban and promised compliance by working with restaurants in finding alternatives.
App-based services like Zomato, UberEats, and Swiggy are optimistic. “Zomato is in favour of the move, as the long-term public good outweighs the short-term hassle. Even before the ban, we encouraged minimisation of plastic with our ‘go green’ option — sending no plastic cutlery or packaging,” a company spokesperson said.
However, despite its advance preparations, Zomato said it has been affected. “We have noticed a drop in orders across most cities in Maharashtra.” Swiggy, however, reported no drop in orders. “Our orders continue to be healthy and unaffected as we have been preparing for this for a while, even before Saturday,” a Swiggy spokesperson said.
UberEats said it welcomes the move on sustainable packaging. “We are engaging with all stakeholders to ensure we comply with the directive,” a company spokesperson said.
Khar resident Reshma Padda said her pizza order from Swiggy was all cardboard. But Urvashi Ojha, a resident of Santacruz (West), was disappointed. “I ordered from an eatery in Bandra through Zomato on Sunday night and even though I selected the ‘go green’ option, I received my order in a plastic bag,” Ms. Ojha said. Waqar Naqvi from Lokhandwala also claimed to have been sent a plastic straw on a McDonald’s order through Swiggy on Sunday.
“We are helping restaurants, but safe packaging material has been in short supply and some restaurants were caught off guard. We have advised all our delivery executives to not handle products packed in plastic,” the Zomato spokesperson said.