Take home boxes help reduce food waste

Harvey Nichols’ OXO Tower in South Bank, London, UK has introduced take home boxes as a way to reduce food waste, as well as giving customers the opportunity to take something home to remember their experience at OXO.

The boxes have been manufactured and printed in the UK by eco-friendly packaging specialist Biopac.

Kerri McGuinness, marketing and communications manager at Harvey Nichols, says, “Recently awarded an SRA Three Star Rating, we are always trying to find ways to further improve our sustainability practices. We put the project out to tender with three suppliers and found Biopac to be the most flexible with our bespoke design needs and responsive to our requests. It was a long-term project and the end result is certainly worth it.”

The boxes are made from wood pulp that is produced from sustainable forests in Europe and coated with a compostable material to render them leak proof. They can be fully composted when they’ve reached their end of life.

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has quoted an average restaurant throws out 21 tonnes of food a year, and embarrassment is the main reason more diners don’t ask to take food home. About a third of that waste is swept directly from diners’ plates into the bin. With take home boxes readily available, the OXO Tower will now be encouraging customers to take their leftovers home, helping to reduce this figure.