Sustainable packaging · PM investigation · 13 pages
The Plastic Wait
Sustainable packaging is technically solved. Nobody moves first.
22,000 t
Of plastic waste per month from food delivery alone, in India — while the compostable alternative already exists.
The thesis
Plastic stays because it solves real problems: unmatched barrier performance, 20–50 % cheaper than any certified alternative, sunk machinery, and a ₹85,000 crore sachet economy. The question isn't whether alternatives exist. It's what would force the first mover to move.
Inside the deck
- 01
The problems it creates are worse
57 % of sachets are multilayer laminate — unrecyclable by any process on earth. India recycles just 8 % of its plastic. The 2022 ban produced 85 % fewer complaints, not less pollution.
- 02
Six ways to break the coordination lock
Drop-in bagasse, mono-material films, a platform mandate, EPR with teeth, refill and reuse, compostable films — scored on impact, cost, scale and adoption. Two clear winners.
- 03
The recommendation: platform mandate + EPR with teeth
Zomato or Swiggy mandate eco-packaging as a listing requirement: ₹3–7 per order, zero consumer behavior change, enforceable through algorithmic listing control, and possible in six months with no new technology. The platforms control discovery — that is the market power the transition is waiting for.
The technology exists. The missing ingredient is a player with the market power to make the switch non-optional.
Reading this and hiring for product? Email me — say what you disagreed with.