Reusable pizza boxes are coming

Made of fabric, polypropylene or wood – the first reusable pizza boxes appeared. It remains to convert customers. Overview.

The French love pizza: second consumers in the world after the Americans, they devour more than a billion a year. In the meantime, the packages of pizzas delivered or taken away clutter up the domestic waste bins or yellow bins, according to the instructions for separate collection by the municipalities. “I was tired of seeing my boxes end up in neighbors’ dumpsters, after only serving for a few minutes”, he admits Sylvain Giraud, owner of the pizzeria Les Gourmands dit, Saint-Amant-Tallende (Puy-de-Dme). So he decides to have wooden boxes made, “Saint-Nectaire type”made to measure and perforated to avoid condensation, in which he adds disposable baking paper. “For eight months I have been offering them for 5 euros to regulars and I add an extra stamp to the loyalty card. The boxes cost me €7.50, it’s an investment. Customers have to use them a dozen times to get my bearings,” observe. Convinced by “this more virtuous approach that improves the image of the restaurant”he still doesn’t know if most of his regulars will like this initiative: “They adhere to the principle. But I’m not sure if some, for example students, are willing to pay for packaging that used to be free.”

Encourage the customer

For its part, the Bonici brand has since the beginning of the year launched reusable boxes in all its factories, in addition to cardboard packaging. “We are the first franchise in France to offer these reusable take-away boxes. It is a strong commitment for us who work daily to reduce waste and our carbon footprint by purchasing raw materials as much as possible, mainly from France or Italy”. comment Jrme Bonici, founder and president of the franchise. The Bonici box, in polypropylene and equipped with ventilation holes, allows you to store the pizza “remains crunchy and chewy” to serve as a doggy-bag or even “bring pies or quiches for a picnic”. It is sold to the customer for 9 euros, thanks to a partnership with a beverage brand. “At the end of 15 uses, the Bonici box will cost less than a normal cardboard box”, he continues. Despite an incentive system (a box returned nine times entitles you to a free pizza), “it may take some time for these new uses to be adopted by customers”, He believes.

In the Var, the Ecoscience Provence association tested with ten pizza makers a bag prototype combining felt fabric and wooden trays, which allows the transport of two pizzas at the same time. “The only requirement of professional is to agree a collection schedule with his client so that the pizzas taken out of the oven are put back directly into the oven in the box Pizza reusable The Nomadic” I notify Solna Rinaldiresponsible for the sustainable consumption mission.