It’s not just grocers who are changing habits to make a smaller impact on the planet.
The Mighty Bowl, a popular restaurant in downtown Vancouver, is switching all of its disposable, takeaway packaging to recyclable or biodegradable materials, said owner Steve Valenta. The move will cost the restaurant an extra $500 a month, but Valenta says he sees that as an investment in the environment.
The biodegradable packaging market is expected to grow worldwide as more restaurants make the switch to more earth-friendly products; according to a report by Research and Markets, the global biodegradable plastic packaging market is expected to grow from $4.65 billion in 2019 to $12.06 billion in 2025.
Mighty Bowl isn’t the only Vancouver restaurant to make the switch. Dev’s Coffee Bar on Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard also recently switched to biodegradable clamshells for its breakfast sandwiches. Also, Starbucks announced last week that it is shifting away from single-use to reusable packaging as a way to be more eco-friendly.
Valenta said that single-use plastic containers “don’t take into account the real cost of the planet and the cleanup. The items used that people take away and use just for a few seconds, it’s not sustainable.”
It’s taken about a year for Valenta to pencil out the switch, but he said that as more suppliers of biodegradable plastic items enter the market, costs are falling.
“The competition is driving both prices down,” he said. “We just know it will get cheaper. No matter what it costs, we were going to change.”
Plastic take-home bags cost about 2 cents each, and the switch to biodegradable bags will cost Valenta about 20 cents each, he said. He’s also adding biodegradable smoothie cups, hot bowls, straws, dressing cups, utensils and clamshell containers. The Mighty Bowl will also no longer supply plastic water bottles.
Valenta said that the switch doesn’t mean that his restaurant won’t use plastic, but by putting in the most effort he can, he hopes to influence other businesses.
“We’re not trying to be anti-plastic,” he said. “Plastic does offer some type of benefit, but we believe single-use is not one of them. For everyone to do zero waste imperfectly will be huge. If other businesses will see us doing it, maybe they will be more inclined.”
Added Zac Pierce, inventory manager at Mighty Bowl: “This is a broader conversation that The Mighty Bowl is trying to have.”
