The Real Cost of Food Delivery

3 minute read

• Food delivery creates air pollution and contributes to climate change

• Plastic from delivery orders is often non-recyclable or ends up in landfills

• Alternatives to food delivery with lower carbon emissions are readily available

During the pandemic, the popularity of food delivery services such as UberEats, GrubHub, and DoorDash increased as more people stayed home to slow the spread of the virus. Some restaurants were able to stay open by offering delivery in place of dine-in services. Many people are likely to maintain their delivery ordering habits after the pandemic ends, but this habit has real environmental consequences and we should be aware of them.

Air Pollution and Climate Change

Even before the pandemic, air pollution from food delivery vehicles was a concern, especially in major cities. Over the next decade, the number of delivery vehicles in major cities is projected to increase by 36 percent, and the climate change-contributing emissions associated with these vehicles will increase by 6 million tons or 32 percent.

Households that order $70 worth of food delivery every week have carbon footprints 450 percent higher per year than those that don’t order delivery. If you drastically reduce that number to $14 per week, your carbon footprint is still 52 percent higher than someone who doesn’t order delivery.

The kinds of food you’re ordering are also a factor when calculating your carbon footprint. Opting for vegetarian or vegan options can drastically reduce the emissions associated with your meal. A vegetarian who spends $70 on delivery once a week has a 89 percent higher carbon footprint than someone who never orders delivery. Comparatively, a meat-eater spending the same amount of money will have a carbon footprint 450 percent higher. When you order vegetarian, you can get the same amount of food with a much lower carbon footprint!

Plastic Pollution

Online food delivery is responsible for an increase in the production and use of single-use plastic and Styrofoam packaging. Plastic is made from oil or natural gas, and during the entire production process, there are opportunities for these fossil fuels to leak out into the environment. Additionally, the chemical process of turning the oil or gas into resin requires immense amounts of energy, usually generated by the burning of more fossil fuels. More energy is required to form the resin into packaging. Transporting and distributing this packaging to restaurants creates even more emissions.

Only nine percent of plastic is recycled. Unfortunately, the rest ends up in landfills or nature. One of the reasons the recycling rate is so low is a high instance of contamination. If an item is placed in the wrong bin -- like plastic in a paper-only bin -- it can contaminate a large batch of recycling, causing the entire batch to be thrown into a landfill or incinerated. Recyclable materials that aren’t properly cleaned can also contaminate the batch. Human error or apathy partnered with a less-than-perfect recycling system results in rapidly filling landfills and pollution in our waterways. In addition, many common items included in delivery orders -- plastic utensils, straws, and bags --  generally cannot be recycled. 

Alternatives

There are plenty of ways to reduce your food delivery carbon footprint. If you live in the D.C. area, Vegetable and Butcher (V+B) is a subscription-based service that delivers healthy meals with seasonal ingredients in sustainable packaging. V+B has vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and paleo options to fit almost any dietary need. They partner with Ecodrive to offset all of their carbon emissions, so you can feel good about patronizing them. If you’d like to offset your individual emissions from your food delivery habits, you can also plant trees with Ecodrive!

If you aren’t in the D.C. area, there are other meal delivery options available to you. Recent studies have found that many meal delivery kits have 33 percent lower carbon footprints than the same meal prepared with ingredients from a grocery store. It is important to note that this generally does not take into account the amount of packaging involved in typical meal delivery kits. However, the food waste associated with buying ingredients from grocery stores has a greater negative impact than the plastic waste. You can find eco-conscious meal delivery kits on this website.

As things slowly reopen and restrictions lift, if you’re comfortable, you can responsibly visit restaurants in person. It eliminates the emissions from the delivery vehicle and the plastic waste. Remember to try to walk, take public transportation, or carpool to keep your emissions low! 

Small changes in our habits -- eating vegetarian more often, using eco-friendly meal kits, and limiting ordering using food delivery apps -- can help curb climate change one meal at a time.