Which of the containers that we picked up during the pandemic at our takeout packaging picnic are actually good for the planet? We rate takeaway container options from green to greenwashing to help food places and people pick the most eco-friendly packaging to reduce plastic and other environmental pollution.

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We’re writing this for cafes and restaurants wanting to use the most eco-friendly takeaway container option and for people wanting to choose to support and encourage their locals to use the most eco-friendly takeaway container option.

Which of the containers that we picked up during the pandemic at our sunny packaging picnic in the picture are actually a plus for the planet?

Obviously, reusables come in at number one, with the least resources and energy being used overall after being reused numerous times and the least disposability, with reusable systems and personal ownership of an item ensuring they continue being reused.

Creative reusing is a close second, with no new resources being used, but there is no guarantee that it will remain part of and sometimes it can’t continue to be part of the circular economy.

Compostable containers are contentious and can be greenwashing because of poor labelling regulations around the use of words like degradable, biodegradable, and compostable. It is currently voluntary for manufacturers to verify that their products conform to composting standards in Australia, so often questions around the conditions actually needed for it to biodegrade and how long it will actually take to biodegrade remain, making it very hard to dispose of these responsibly.

Ones that are really actually home compostable like ones made from plain cardboard come in at number three and are the last type of takeaway container on this list that we give a thumbs up, with the last three - commercially compostable, recyclable, and non-recyclable - all getting a thumbs down.

More on this below, as well as examples to help you spot the imposters and the exciting actually eco-friendly options in the wild.

1. Personal reusable containers & swap & go reuse systems at restaurants

Using a reusable container - especially one that already exists - will always be the best option (as long as it is reused) as no resources are used to create and recycle or dispose of something new. You can either take your own container and ask for your takeaway to be placed in your own container instead of one of their usual single-use takeaway containers (go here for 5 Steps To Successfully Getting Takeaway In Your Own Container) or you can use one of the food place’s reusable containers if it has set up a reuse system.

Examples of takeaway bowl and container borrow and reuse systems in Melbourne are Returnr, Moroccan Soup Bar, which has its own one just for its restaurant, and Retub’s container exchange program called Reswap. And Noa and Parker has just begun delivering lunch in reusable containers.

Examples of reuse and swap and go systems for coffee cups in Melbourne are Cup Exchange, which involves a revolving cup library of donated second hand coffee mugs, Green Caffeen and Returnr, which involve paying a deposit that is paid back when the cup is returned, and Noa and Parker, which is membership based.

Look out for reuse systems in your city or think about getting one started up in your town or business. They’re pretty simple to set up on a small scale!

You can read more on reuse systems, the benefits they bring, what is needed for them to be successful, the barriers to getting them implemented, and the role of legislation here.

2. Creative reusing for food to go, like jars, boxes & milk cartons

Cafes are getting hella creative with their reusing! Reusing second hand coffee mugs and glass jars for cup libraries and reusing cardboard boxes to hold multiple items instead of single-use bags are examples of no-brainer reusing and are both becoming pretty popular, but when you see cafes reusing milk cartons for coffee cup holders and takeaway containers it makes me go “woah” in awe and appreciation.

You can see how, after being cleaned (they are plastic lined so they are actually easy to clean and reuse), a milk carton can be reused for a coffee cup holder here and how it can be reused for a takeaway container here.

This gives something that was intentioned to be single use a second use instead, saving the use of something new. The only issue with this option is that whether the item is reused again and how the reused item is disposed of - responsibly or not - cannot be controlled. The best those reusing them can do is provide instructions on how best to ensure the item is kept in the circular economy.

Before disposing of something single-use, think about whether you or someone else could reuse it for something or let the internet do the thinking for you and search for ideas or ask your community if anyone has any ideas.

3. Cardboard & certified home compostable takeout boxes and clamshells

Plain cardboard is both home compostable and recyclable if not contaminated with food residue or grease. This simple option is our favourite single-use takeaway packaging option. Think pizza boxes and white paper plates, and plain brown cardboard trays like these and boxes like these, which don’t have a lining, as well as most wooden cutlery. The greasy bits of these boxes have to be composted and not recycled, while the clean bits can be cut or torn off and recycled.

These home compostable containers can also be reused in the garden to grow seeds. They can be then planted straight in the soil in the container when ready for planting.

Be careful though - cardboard boxes and brown paper bags can have a lining that might not be home compostable or compostable at all (sneaky plastic alert!). For instance these BioBoard lunch boxes are lined with PLA, so they are not home compostable and have to be sent to a commercial facility for composting. They can also be lined in foil, but this is at least visible.

While it would be ideal if these were labelled to let us know exactly what they are made of and if they are lined or not, this often is not the case. How can you tell if a paper bag has a plastic lining? Try ripping the bag. It is most likely paper only if it rips cleanly.

If You Care paper bags (AU here, RSA here, UK here) are uncoated but still greaseproof and are TUV Austria S0203 HOME and OK Compost and Compostable 7P2011 certified. They are a good example of clearly well-labelled packaging.

Materials other than unlined cardboard that are usually home compostable are:

• Palm leaf plates and bowls like these.

• Sugarcane fibre (also known as bagasse or Biocane) products are a brilliant alternative to plastic takeaway containers. They made from pulp that is is a by-product of the sugar refining industry and include clam boxes, compartmentalised boxes, bowls and lids (examples here)

You even get home compostable sauce cups, which are an amazing alternative to the plastic ones. Although I have seen lids for these little sauce holders made out of sugercane fibre as well, which is the best option, they tend to mostly come with PLA (second best) or PET (no thanks!) lids. Actually, the best is when they come with no lid! Is one really needed?

Only put packaging in your home compost bin if it is labelled as home compostable. In Australia, certified home compostable packaging will have Australian Standard number AS 5810-2010 on the label.

If they are simply labelled as compostable, chances are that they will only biodegrade in a commercial compost facility. The Australian Standard for compostable products that will biodegrade in a commercial compost facility is AS 4736-2006. If this is on the label, it is only commercially compostable.

If you’re looking for takeaway containers and other packaging to use for catering or your business, we recommend looking through the options on Going Green Solutions, as it thoroughly researches and clearly explains what each option is made from, its certifications, and how it can be composted and how it can’t be composted.

If you’re not in Australia, find out what the standards are in your country and stick to buying compostable products displaying the standard number that shows that they are home compostable.

These won’t biodegrade in landfill and have to be composted to biodegrade so you’ll need to have somewhere to compost them, whether that’s at home, via your council or a neighbour, or at a community garden.

If you’re yet to set up a home composting system and are keen to, check out our Home Composting 101 article on what you can and can’t compost and the best options for home composting no matter how small your living space.

Update: Hidden Pollutants

The recent PFAS in Fibre-Based Packaging report by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation explains that PFAS are found in fibre-based packaging, such as paperboard food boxes and compostable clamshells, and outlays the environmental pollution problem this poses.

A quarter of the samples tested had no detectable PFAS and just over a quarter of the samples contained high levels of PFAS, with the rest containing variable levels of PFAS.

All bagasse packaging (bagasse is the fibrous matter left over after the production of sugarcane, sorghum and agave and it is used to make tree-free paper product alternatives such as compostable sugarcane food packaging) tested had high concentrations.

None of the samples of paperboard food boxes such as pizza boxes, takeaway boxes, salad boxes, and hot chip boxes, had high or medium concentrations. They all had either no or very low levels.

Added as a barrier to heat, grease and water, most of these chemicals will not break down when composted, becoming an environmental pollutant. And those that do break down will form other PFAS. The report recommends that industry develop an action plan to transition away from PFAS in this type of packaging.

Some information on the potential human health risks from exposure to PFAS is provided in this Planet Ark article. It notes that studies demonstrate a correlation between high PFAS exposure and health impacts such as breast, testicular and kidney cancers, elevated cholesterol, and a range of developmental issues in foetuses. It adds that it may also impair the function of the immune system and concludes that evidence supports the case for transitioning away from these forever chemicals.

[Thank you to UYO for sending us the report.]

4. Commercially compostable plastic food containers, cups & cutlery

Bio- or plant-based and bioplastic are often greenwashing terms. Products labelled as bio- or plant-based and bioplastic are not necessarily biodegradable or compostable. This can simply mean that it is made from plant materials. Also be aware of items simply labelled biodegradable, while degradable only means it is plastic that will break into smaller pieces quicker. Packaging labelled with these terms needs extra scrutiny to make sure they are even commercially compostable.

While bioplastic that is commercially compostable is often criticised for taking a lot of resources to create (growing, watering etc the crop), using valuable agricultural land to create something single use, and for contaminating recycling as they can’t be recycled.

And although commercially compostable packaging is technically compostable, in Australian states at least, there are very few - if any - places that do this (for instance, this map shows the commercial compost facilities in Australia accepting Biopak products) and it is very hard for customers to responsibly dispose of these, with restaurants not providing specific bins for them and a lot of councils not allowing them in their green bins.

So, while they are better than conventional plastic for numerous reasons (see below), we recommend rather going for home compostable containers if possible.

Importantly, people and food places seem to think that these containers will biodegrade in landfill or if they end up in the environment, but they won’t. They have to be commercially composted for this to happen as high temperatures are needed to break it down. Sending them to landfill is no good.

Also, confusingly, half the time the lids used for commercially biodegradable bowls, sauce cups, and coffee cups are made from normal PET plastic and are not compostable at all. It is best if all the packaging is made from the same type of material i.e. all home compostable or all commercially compostable to make it easier and less confusing.

It is important to note that companies that are known for selling commercially compostable plastic takeaway packaging don’t always only sell these and actually sell conventional non-compostable, recyclable, and non-recyclable plastic items as well. So, it is important to not rely on the brand name and assume that it is commercially compostable because of it and to look at its classification in or under the three arrows in a triangle sign, which does mean that it is recyclable, but only shows the type of plastic.

What to look for and what the plastic classification means:

• PLA (Polylactic Acid) means that it is a commercially compostable bioplastic made from renewable resources such as cornstarch, cassava, sugarcane, or beets. It is usually used to make cups, bowls, containers and lids like these.

• PET is just normal plastic and is not compostable at all. Often used for lids like these that can be used for compostable Biocane bowls, lunchboxes, sauce cups, and smoothie and coffee cups. It can be recycled like conventional hard plastic.

• RPET is the same as above it is just PET that has been recycled.

5. Recyclable aluminium & plastic food containers

Recycling is greenwashing in the sense that it is not the solution to our plastic pollution and waste crisis. Our focus on waste management and recycling and the consumer is obscuring the big structural issues that are driving the environmental problems caused by plastic. As is stated and explored in the documentary The Story of Plastic, “The people profiting off of creating environmental issues are not being asked to change their behaviour.”

When it comes to single-use recyclable takeaway containers, aluminium is the best option. It can be cleaned and reused at home for cooking and baking in the oven for yourself or to give to friends and family, for storage, and to bake polymer clay and other art projects and it is a valuable material that can generally be recycled (without food traces so wash it first) and it can be continuously recycled over and over again.

Although plastic containers are recyclable, most plastic is actually not recycled and if it is recycled, it can only be recycled a few times before having to end up in landfill anyway.

Are recyclable plastic containers or commercially compostable plastic containers better? Good question! Commercially compostable bioplastics are better because they are not made from finite resources like oil and are instead made from renewable resources and the production of the material produces 80% less greenhouse gases than petroleum based plastics.

6. Non-recyclable polystyrene clamshells & coffee cups

The worst options are those that are not recyclable at all and there is no option but to send them to landfill after using them once for a very short time. These include coffee cups, which are not recyclable nearly everywhere because they are plastic lined (they are recyclable in a few places like via Simply Cups in Australia, which is great but not perfect like with any recycling, which is not the solution to our plastics crisis), and polystyrene, which is not recycled because it is not economically viable to do so.

In addition polystyrene is made from styrene, which is listed as “reasonably anticipated to be a carcinogen” by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Also, polystyrene is a nightmare to clean up once it enters the environment, with it breaking up into tiny white balls. It often ends up polluting waterways and is the worst of the worst. So much so that it is being banned in many cities and countries and where it is not being banned, there is bound to be an environmental group asking for it to be banned. Avoid if at all possible!

If you’re looking for ways to have a zero waste picnic, party or events, read our Zero Waste Catering: Plastic Free Parties, Sustainable Soirees & Eco-friendly Events blog post and for more information on the difference between recyclable, degradable, biodegradable and compostable read our Recyclable, Degradable, Biodegradable & Compostable: What's the Difference? blog post.

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