The Devolver revolution to bin single use

The Northern Beaches is the greatest place on Earth, an irrefutable, scientific fact, but this almost perfect peninsula has one gigantic problem that needs urgent attention, single use plastic. The confronting reality of overflowing bins spilling onto the streets, promenades and beaches with single use garbage galore is a sight that should be relegated to the history books. 

How can this seemingly endless abundance of utter crap be removed from our ecosystem? Enter Allison Bentley and Mary Walker, the futureproofing, dynamic duo that first met at a Freshwater mothers’ group. “Our eldest daughters are pretty great friends,” explains Allison. “So perhaps it was inevitable we’d end up in business together.” 

That business is Devolver, a start-up Allison and Mary founded with a clear and urgent mission, to eliminate the need for single use plastic from the takeaway food industry. “Have you ever seen the bins in Manly on a sunny summer’s day?” asks Mary. “They’re usually full to the brim and overflowing with rubbish. The vast majority of which is takeaway related.” 

“Takeaway food and drink packaging are the number one most littered items on NSW streets,” continues Allison. “And as we all know, a lot of it makes it into the ocean, harming our wildlife. Recycling really doesn’t happen with these kinds of items and there are a lot of upstream implications, too. It’s one long chain of wasted resources and environmental damage, from deforestation and biodiversity loss to emissions created during production and shipping, all for a single use.”

So, what exactly is Devolver, besides, of course, obvious to all your Hispanophones out there, being the Spanish word for ‘to return, restore’? “We’ve not created any real business innovation here,” says Allison. “Rather, we are simply circling back somewhat to the way things were before the advent of cheap plastic and the once lauded ‘single use’, while also utilising technology. We have a library of reusable containers, ready for takeaway customers to borrow when they make a purchase without having to remember to bring their own. Then, when you’re done, have enjoyed your meal, you can return the container to any participating outlet.”

The digital platform underlying Devolver allows the library of containers to be easily tracked and for users to know exactly what they’ve borrowed and when and where they can return it, reuse it, and forget about single use for good. As Mary says, “It’s taking reuse to the 21st century and making it as convenient as possible, while building a community around it.”

Allison and Mary’s greatest challenge on the path to binning single use is convincing the takeaway businesses themselves to adopt the technology and make the most of Devolver’s reusable container library. “Behaviour change is a big task, and it’s been a lot harder to motivate people than we thought it would, to be honest,” says Allison. “Having a thriving takeaway business should make you feel proud and not leave you feeling guilty about the waste created in the process. 

“The Devolver reuse system allows business owners to do the right thing by the planet, prepare in advance for coming legislation changes that will simply be more challenging as time goes on, wow their patrons, and essentially ensure repeat business – when the containers come back to you, so do your customers.”