Are the highly praised small-portioned takeout dishes really that good?

What should you do if you order takeout alone, want to try multiple dishes but fear you cannot finish all of them? The "single-person small-portion dish" perfectly solves this problem.

However, Plastic Free China, an environmental organization that has long focused on plastic pollution, found through investigation that small-portion dishes designed to reduce food waste have successfully cut food loss, but failed to drive a synchronous drop in packaging consumption. In the "single-person meal" scenario, a "seesaw" effect has formed between food waste reduction and plastic reduction.

The "Invisible Bill" Overlooked Under the Boom of Single-Person Meal Consumption

At present, people living alone are increasingly inclined to choose small-portion dishes when ordering takeout.

According to the data of the 7th National Population Census, the number of one-person households in China has exceeded 125 million, accounting for 25.39% of all households. "Living alone is changing from a transitional state to a relatively stable lifestyle," said Jia Yidan, staff member of the takeout plastic reduction project of Plastic Free China. "Small-portion dishes have a low unit price per customer and precisely meet the demand of the single-person group for 'wanting to try multiple dishes without wasting food', leading to a high repurchase rate on all takeout platforms. In addition, with low costs, merchants are also willing to launch small-portion dishes."

Taking the data from Meituan platform as an example, the number of "single-person meal" orders has increased by more than 40%, and the annual search growth rate of the keyword "small-portion dish" exceeds 32%. The platform has accordingly launched a "small-portion dish zone" and the "half portion at half price" activity. On the other hand, small-portion dishes can also reduce food waste. The Agricultural Information Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences once estimated that each "small-portion meal" takeout order can reduce food waste by 110.23 grams on average, with a waste reduction rate of 53.3%.

"Food waste has been reduced, but packaging consumption has not been avoided," Jia Yidan calculated an account for reporters. "In the single-person meal scenario, consumers often order 3 to 4 small-portion dishes at a time to try more different dishes, plus rice, soup, and separate packages for seasoning packets and extra toppings. One single order consumes five or six food containers. In comparison, three or four people ordering four or five dishes together only share 1 to 1.5 food containers per capita."

The team led by Wen Zongguo from the School of Environment of Tsinghua University previously calculated based on 35 million takeout orders that the national takeout industry generates about 1.6 million tons of plastic waste a year, and the public cost of harmlessly treating this waste is about 2.45 billion yuan.

"Small-portion dishes reduce food waste, but the usage of food containers has not decreased accordingly," said Jia Yidan. This is the packaging paradox of single-person takeout — the food waste bill is cut, but the plastic consumption bill is not reduced.

Obviously, the integrated multi-compartment food container can hold multiple dishes and greatly reduce the usage of food containers. Why do the vast majority of merchants still insist on one dish per container?

"There are multiple superimposed factors behind this, including platform rules, evaluation systems, merchant risks and profits, distribution efficiency, and consumer psychology," Jia Yidan said.

The standardized rules and evaluation system of platforms are the underlying driving force of the separate packaging mode. According to her observation, the standardized food delivery process of takeout platforms requires each dish to be packed separately to avoid flavor mixing and disputes. "Once a problem occurs with mixed packaging, consumers may complain not only about 'wrong flavor', but also request return or exchange of the whole order. For merchants, separate packaging is the lowest-risk option."

The evaluation system of platforms also reinforces this logic. When consumers order takeout in daily life, they tend to give positive comments to orders with "intact packaging" and "look clean and exquisite". These evaluation preferences will be amplified by algorithms and transmitted back to merchants.

"Nowadays, the scoring system of some takeout platforms even directly includes 'packaging satisfaction' into the 'food quality score' indicator," Jia Yidan said. Rather than taking the risk of bad reviews caused by "spilled food" or "damaged packaging", merchants prefer to add an extra layer of packaging. Over time, packaging has evolved from "just enough" to "safe", and then to "excessive".

From the perspective of merchant operation, separate packaging can also increase the income from packaging fees. As learned by reporters, packaging fees are charged by "piece". Although the food container of small-portion dishes is small in volume, the fee for a single small container is the same as that of a regular food container. Therefore, the more containers there are, the higher packaging fees merchants can charge, which naturally makes them lack the motivation to combine food containers.

In addition, the distribution side and consumer psychology also reinforce this industry habit. Jia Yidan said that when riders sort and check orders, separately packed dishes are clearer, which helps improve distribution efficiency and reduce disputes. Consumers also have cognitive bias, enjoying the delicate and ritual dining experience brought by multiple separate packages, while the integrated mixed packaging box is easily labeled as cheap.

This operating logic is closely linked, and over time, one dish per container has become the default standard of the whole takeout industry system.

Transform from "Advocating Plastic Reduction" to "Regulating Packaging" to Solve the Packaging Dilemma

The market lacks the impetus for spontaneous adjustment. How can we break the deadlock? Fortunately, changes are taking place.

Beijing recently released the Guidelines for the Use of Green Packaging by Catering Takeout Merchants (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), which is the first local standard for green takeout packaging across the country, and will be officially implemented on September 1. The guidelines directly target chaotic phenomena such as using large containers for small portions of takeout food, over-wrapping with plastic wrap, and arbitrarily providing thermal insulation bags.

"In the past, the field of green takeout packaging lacked specific norms and mostly stayed at the advocacy level, while the newly released Guidelines clarify specific requirements," Professor Du Huanzheng from the College of Environmental and Sustainable Development of Tongji University believes that the introduction of the standard marks the leap from "concept advocacy" to "enforceable standards". The key after its release lies in implementation and supervision. If a complete closed loop can be formed, it will play a positive role in reducing plastic packaging for takeout.

At the same time, the Guidelines will also force the adaptation of small-portion dish packaging and the reduction of redundant consumables in local areas, promote the application of integrated multi-compartment food containers, and reduce the usage of food containers while meeting consumers' demand for diversified dishes.

In addition, the simultaneously released industry association standard General Requirements for Small-Portion Dishes in the Catering Industry for the first time regulates the packaging of small-portion dishes, requiring that food containers with volume matching the dishes should be selected.

The policy direction is shifting from "advocating plastic reduction" to "regulating packaging", but its implementation still takes time. "For merchants, they will face challenges such as cost and process reconstruction," Du Huanzheng said. The restrictive regulations on the volume matching of food containers mean that merchants need to redesign the packaging process and customize new molds for food containers, but there are no technical obstacles to this.

Considering the cost factor for merchants, Du Huanzheng said that with the mass production of multi-compartment or simplified food containers, the procurement cost of packaging will decrease. In the long run, compliant operation with plastic-reduced packaging will reduce the total expenditure on consumables. As for the flavor mixing problem that merchants worry about, packaging improvement can be promoted on the premise of ensuring food quality, for example, using an integrated multi-compartment food container with an inner sealing layer.

In June this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other departments jointly issued the Promotion Plan for National Action to Build a Beautiful China (2026-2030), which mentions promoting a simple, moderate, green and low-carbon lifestyle.

In Jia Yidan's view, optimizing takeout packaging and promoting merchants to take the initiative in plastic reduction is a specific practice to implement this requirement. It integrates the simple and moderate green concept into people's three meals a day, turning low-carbon consumption from policy provisions into conscious actions that the public can see and participate in.

For promoting merchants to optimize takeout packaging and take the initiative to reduce plastic use, Du Huanzheng said that the platform side is an important starting point, "we can first optimize the order interface, add a 'combined packaging' option, display green packaging by default, guide consumers to choose it voluntarily, and provide supporting green incentives."

At the same time, platforms also have the authority of merchant access and traffic distribution, and can consider taking compliant simplified packaging as a prerequisite for merchants to settle in. A support mechanism for green merchants can also be established to give traffic preference and green logo display to merchants that implement minimal packaging, so as to encourage merchants to optimize their packaging.

On the consumer side, it is also necessary to strengthen publicity and guidance to help them change consumption concepts. Encourage consumers to voluntarily note "combine dipping sauces", "remove plastic wrap" or choose "combined packaging" when placing orders, so as to drive merchants to reduce packaging volume through demand from the consumer end.

"The long-term solution lies in the recycling packaging and management system," Jia Yidan cited an example that the recycling cup pilot in Zhoushan, Zhejiang has a return rate as high as 97% under the mechanism of no deposit and no penalty. We can refer to this model to gradually promote the use of takeout recycling containers, expanding from pilots to large-scale application. The Guidelines issued in Beijing can be used for reference by other regions, and finally form a unified national management system.

In her view, single-person meals and takeout will not disappear, but there is no need to choose between "eating well alone" and "generating less waste alone".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Plastic Free China", written by Dong Yanan, reporter from China Environment News, edited by Wang Lin, and authorized for release by 36Kr.