Delivery Boxes: MealBox
Another common sight early in the morning, these boxes are used:
- to deliver freshly baked breakfast goods and juices
- to deliver meals-on-wheels for those who have difficulty cooking
- to deliver pre-measured ingredients for recipes
- to deliver restaurant cooked meals, pizzas and take-aways.
- to return waste food for composting the same or following day.
Overview
They are the size of a large cereal or washing-powder box (36x25x13 cm or 14x10x5 in.), bright orange with insulated walls (either air-gap or vacuum) to keep the contents hot or cold as needed.
In the morning these are often delivered along with the PaperBoxes - bringing people warm croissants or pastries and freshly squeezed juice. A single box will hold enough for a family breakfast. When used for other meals, each box may hold a plated meal for a single person or food in containers (such as Chinese take-away) for 2 to 4 people.
The colour is chosen so as to be garish enough not to be pleasant to look at if left in a kitchen. Customers are to be encouraged to empty the box, pour their juice and put it straight back in the DeliveryPoint for collection.
Use
An insulated dividing wall splits the container into 1/3 and 2/3 sections allowing hot and cold items to be kept separate. Both compartments have snap-fit, water-tight and air-tight lids. The smaller compartment can hold 1.5 litres of liquid and has a tap recessed into the lower corner. A slight slope on the internal face of the container ensures that all the liquid can be drained without having to lift or tilt the container.
Impact
The insulation in the boxes, combined with carefully optimised delivery ensures that the food is in a better condition on delivery than the current alternatives (think meals-on-wheels van, pizza delivery motorbike etc.)
Having eaten most of the contents, it is very easy to put any waste back in the same box for recycling. This should increase the level of recycling significantly.
Hygiene
Boxes holding food need to be thoroughly washed at the hub before being reused. These boxes are designed to be hygienic - with rounded corners and the minimum of surface detail so that germs cannot hide in the crevices. Although boxes are used to return food waste, this is collected within 24 hours so does not have time to go off. The automatic washing and sterilising systems must clean the boxes to the same standard that we expect of our already reusable milk bottles.
Active Heating/Cooling
In some extreme environments or where delivery times are long, it may be important to keep the contents hotter or colder than can be done with the insulated walls alone. More sophisticated containers could have access points from beneath to support active cooling and/or heating systems. These may include pipes in contact with the inner surfaces of the compartments. Cooled or heated liquids or gases may be pumped through these to maintain the internal temperature at the required level.