GLOBAL – Uber has partnered with Visa on a new US$1 million program aimed to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) transition to environmentally sustainable packaging solutions.

According to the companies, this program is part of a broader year-long effort to help SMBs who use Uber Eats to grow their enterprises.

“With consumers continuing to express desires to live more sustainably, businesses across sectors have a notable opportunity to adopt more sustainable practices to meet this demand,” noted Douglas Sabo, chief sustainability officer at Visa.

“Visa will be expanding on our partnership with Uber Eats to help small businesses not be left out of the sustainable business transformations this moment requires.”

Under the initiative, the companies will make US$1 million accessible to qualifying Uber Eats restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Madrid to fund greener packaging for their businesses.

Details of the new partnership, including how restaurants can qualify and apply for funding, will be shared on the Uber Eats for Merchants online site in the coming months.

Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, SVP and global head of delivery for Uber added: “Single-use packaging is used in nearly every takeout order worldwide.

“With Visa and our restaurant partners, we can work toward reducing waste and helping small businesses thrive.”

Launched in Davos, Switzerland, this program follows a 2022 Grants for Growth program that the two partners started to support US small business owners still recovering from the pandemic and other unexpected events such as natural disasters.

Merchants received microgrants of US$10,000 used for payroll, paying outstanding debt to vendors, upgrading payment technology infrastructure and other immediate operational costs.

A 2022 study by the US National Restaurant Association indicates that while the transition to sustainable packaging is a priority to many restaurants, the cost – and continued supply chain issues faced by the hospitality industry – make it difficult. Uber Eats and Visa aim to mitigate some of those challenges with their new program.

“Building on the success of our shared support for small and medium-sized businesses, we are turning our efforts with Visa toward how we can help restaurant owners reduce packaging waste and contribute to the fight against climate change,” concluded Gore-Coty.

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