Environmental and economic feasibility of reusable container system for food delivery service in Seoul, South Korea

The food delivery market has been continuously expanding due to convenience and advancements in mobile technology. However, as a result, the use of single-use plastic packaging has surged, further exacerbating waste management issues due to low recycling rates. To address this challenge, this study establishes a reusable container system as an alternative to single-use packaging in restaurant delivery services and evaluates its feasibility through real-world application. In particular, in addition to the commonly adopted doorstep collection method in Korea, a drop-off collection system was introduced as a pilot system to assess its effectiveness in Seoul. To examine its practical feasibility, this study analyzes the environmental and economic impacts throughout the entire food delivery process and determines the minimum number of reuses required for reusable containers to become more beneficial than single-use alternatives. The findings suggest that, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the drop-off collection method reaches an environmental break-even point after an average of 4.6 uses, while from an economic perspective, cost savings are observed after an average of 24 uses. Moreover, due to its higher collection efficiency, the drop-off collection method demonstrates superior environmental and economic advantages over the doorstep collection method. This study quantitatively validates the practical benefits of reusable containers over single-use packaging in food delivery services and is anticipated to serve as a foundation for scalable business model development in Seoul and other major cities.