The ongoing COVID pandemic has transformed many of our daily habits and significantly impacted our lifestyles. Whether you’ve focused on home improvements, jigsaw puzzles, or the perfect sourdough starter- we’ve all been seeking ways to keep our minds and bodies occupied so we don’t dwell on the things we can’t do. While many have embraced the house-bound lifestyle by cooking up a storm, others have used the time to binge-watch like never before, enjoyed with a healthy accompaniment of take-out. A rampant consumer of all things e-commerce, in my pre-quarantine life I was already a significant food-delivery app user and have embraced the growing options with open arms: I am down with DoorDash, Pro-Postmates, and up for Uber Eats anytime. With the recent acquisition of Postmates by Uber, my choices are somewhat narrower, but the food selection has never been broader.
Food deliveries for Uber Eats doubled during Q2 2020, according to the first article below. While consumers have curtailed their travel and interpersonal interaction, they have also increased their demand for food deliveries to their homes. The global online food delivery services market is valued at $111.32B in 2020, according to researchandmarkets.com., and is expected to reach $154.34B in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 11.51%. That’s a lot of lo mein!
All of that food needs to be delivered in packaging; packaging that needs to do an effective job of containing and protecting not only your thai curry or neopolitan pizza but also the carrier, vehicle, and countertop or table on which it’s placed. How often have you ended up with a mess from in-effective or sub-par delivery packaging? For the last 80 years or so, the industry has relied on fluorochemicals to provide the necessary grease-barrier qualities to paper and board packaging. Although these barrier solutions can be quite effective, they are also coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny. The EPA has begun further in-depth assessment of the hazards of fluorochemicals and other PFAS chemistries, however some states have been moving more swiftly to put regulations in place, including the potential ban of PFAS in food packaging in New York State, announced in the second article below. New York follows two other states, Washington and Maine, who have each enacted their own bans. If signed into law, the ban would become effective at the end of 2022- leaving limited time for brand owners, converters, and formulators to seek and qualify viable alternatives.
With the introduction of products in our JONCRYL HPB - high performance barrier - range, such as JONCRYL® HPB 1702, BASF offers an alternative to traditional fluorochemical coatings. JONCRYL HPB 1702 enables our customers to formulate water-based grease-resistant barriers for paperboard and folding carton packages that perform as well as existing industry solutions across a wide temperature range up to 60C, even after the package is creased or folded. As the market for food delivery continues to grow, the HPB 1702 provides our industry with the ability to handle this ever-expanding menu of food delivery options while also serving up a healthy helping of sustainability.
Warmly,
-Simon
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Uber Gobbles Up Postmates In $2.65 Billion Bet On Food Delivery
Uber is buying the delivery app Postmates, bolstering its food-delivery business at a time when few people are hailing rides. The $2.65 billion all-stock deal is a sign of how Uber's business model has been turned upside down as customers have stayed home during the coronavirus pandemic. Demand for rides — by far Uber's biggest business — plunged 75% in the second quarter from a year ago, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Wall Street analysts in a conference call on Monday discussing the deal.
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New York likely to become third state to ban PHAS in food packaging
A bill to ban the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFAS, that are a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many other chemicals in food packaging after Dec.31, 2022, is now on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk.
The bill amending New York’s environmental conservation law cleared the New York General Assembly on July 23. If signed into law by Gov. Cuomo, the new law will prohibit anyone from distributing, selling, or offering for sale any food in any packaging containing PFAS chemicals.
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