IKEA Canada Inspires Zero Waste Takeout This Earth Month and Beyond

Over the past year, consumers’ habits have shifted dramatically. A recent survey in Canada found that 4.2 million more Canadians are ordering food online at least once a week than before the pandemic. That increase has helped a struggling food service industry get by, but it has also brought single-use takeout packaging into more Canadian homes. Every week.

To raise awareness of the rising environmental cost of takeout, Rethink launched Zero Waste Takeout, an initiative to replace all single-use takeout packaging with reusable containers. The initiative started on Earth Day with Toronto restaurant One Love Vegetarian and Ottawa restaurant Pure Kitchen (Preston). On April 22nd, all regular takeout orders were packaged in IKEA’s 365+ reusable food containers, FRAKTA cooler bags, and even came with reusable cutlery, at no extra cost to the restaurant or consumer!

“It’s not just about IKEA’s reusable containers,” said Johanna Andrén, head of marketing, IKEA Canada. “It’s about inspiring consumers around the small changes that we can make to our daily lives that can lead to a big impact. Even with the current challenges that we’re all facing, a better world can still start at home and Zero Waste Takeout gives consumers a tangible way to live more sustainably.”

“With such a sharp increase in takeout orders, we realized that intercepting consumers at a restaurant could be a powerful way for IKEA to inspire sustainable change at home, from outside the home,” said Joel Holtby, partner, head of art & creative director at IKEA’s creative agency, Rethink.

Content creators supported local awareness of the effort, helping to drive interest (and orders) too. Pure Kitchen (Preston) reported that only seven minutes into opening, they surpassed their average daily sales total.