Delivery Boxes: InnerBoxes
These smallest of containers are not shipped directly but are used to hold small items – primarily portions of food within the larger shipping containers.
Overview
These are small sealable and hence waterproof and air-tight plastic boxes such as Tupperware®. They are translucent to allow the type and remaining volume of contents to be seen at a glance without having to open the box.
Use
They are used for holding portions of food without requiring external packaging which is normally thrown away once the food has been consumed. Three sizes are in common use.
- “Small” is primarily used to hold measured quantities of ingredients ordered as part of a recipe.
- “Medium” will hold prepared cuts of meat, small quantities of vegetables etc.
- “Large” will hold a cake or a tart or a significant volume of loose goods such as potatoes.
Impact
Their use should eliminate many of the smaller plastic bags we use to hold our individual purchases. Users are to be encouraged to retain enough such containers for their own use e.g. to keep their leftovers or extra cooking in until it is needed.
They should be used instead of single-use tin-foil containers when delivering meals.
Hygiene
If food is past its sell by date, it is easy to scrape the contents out of the box into the compostable recycling compartment of an OmniBox or MealBox. Users are expected to return containers rinsed (as they would milk bottles today) but they will be automatically cleaned before being sent out again. Used, rinsed containers can simply be stacked inside OmniBoxes awaiting collection.
Labelling
The faces of the boxes are designed to take a printed label. The label affixes to the box face rather than the lid so as to avoid it being inadvertently swapped if the lids of two similar boxes are transposed.
Stackable
These boxes are thin walled and slightly tapered so that they stack efficiently when empty and without their lids on. The lid includes an outer perimeter ridge allowing them to stack vertically on top of each other with their lids on.
Material
The plastic used must not become brittle over time – regardless of exposure to ultra-violet or low temperatures (-18C being commonly used in freezers).