We
popular meals kits.
Wash and dry all produce, start the recipe when the water is
boiling. Okay.
[Asha] Chef's Plate.
What I love about using meal kits is I really actually do
enjoy cooking, but I hate thinking about what I
should cook.
[Asha] Good Food.
Let's see here, the onion already cut.
That's perfect.
No onion tears.
[Asha] And Hello Fresh.
Everything you need to whip up a meal dropped at
your front door.
I'll give you a hand. There we go!
[Asha] John Zovak and his daughter Nicole love
cooking together.
It breaks that routine, it gives you a wide variety of
meals to choose from, you could try new things.
Deliveries here!
[Asha] I'm in the kitchen cooking with one of
these kits too.
Today it's Hello Fresh.
-You ready? -Yeah!
I'm super excited to make food!
I think it's really interesting, we just never know
what we're going to get right?
[Asha] My son Isaiah and hubby Ryan are my two sous chefs.
How much do you love cooking?
So much.
-Cutting up the chives. -Cut, cut, cut.
-Good job. -High five.
We love cooking these meals too but we hear when you say the
packaging is piling up.
Let's find out where it's going and whether the recycling
claims are really true!
Shana Tilbrook and Sean Liverpool use meal kits all
the time.
Their pet peeve though, the plastic packaging.
There's two buns.
Normally that wouldn't to be wrapped in plastic.
This is way more packaging than we would normally get for a
little bit of cheese.
And then ground beef as well.
Like we normally buy one bigger package of ground beef.
[Asha] Plenty of plastic when it comes to Good Food and Hello
Fresh too.
Best friends Nicole LeBlanc and Myles Cephas wonder where it
all goes?
So is all the stuff recyclable here?
[Asha] You would think so when you look at this good food box.
Here, here, and here on this plastic bag too.
Chef's Plate and Hello Fresh don't have those labels.
I think this is crinkly plastic.
I think that's gets thrown out.
What do you think, Sean?
I think it gets recycled.
[Asha] Still lots of questions about
what to recycle and what to toss.
This is why we never agree on what gets thrown out and what
gets recycled.
This, okay, so I think I would also put that in the garbage I
think, but I'm not sure.
I think I would recycle it because it's clear plastic.
But I think this would go in the garbage too.
I'm very confused.
[Asha] Go figure.
One paper bag holds almost everything you need for a meal.
Inside, we count fifteen items.
Twelve wrapped in plastic.
The brown paper bag makes it a little deceiving, you think
that it's going to be more recyclable stuff once it's in
it, and then when you pull it out, there's a lot of plastic.
This is the kind of thing that will last in the environment
for hundreds of years.
[Asha] Plastics program manager Karen Wirsig is from the
advocacy group environmental defense.
Her passion, bringing an end to plastic pollution.
You can put the stuff in your bin, depending on what city you
live in.
But very little of it would ever end up at a recycler.
Why is that?
It's hard.
It's hard to sort it out, it's hard to make this back into
something else.
These are not materials that are made for recycling, they're
really made to be used once and thrown away.
[Asha] Meal kits do cut down on food waste which can have a
significant impact on greenhouses gases.
But Karen says the plastic pollution they're contributing
to is starting to be a real problem.
These companies need to reduce the amount of throwaway
packaging and whatever throwaway packaging they are
using needs to be recyclable.
And it needs to be clear on it, what am I doing with this when
I'm finished with it.
Needs to be much clearer than the confusing labels we've seen
today.
[Asha] Well, those confusing labels keep on coming.
Take a look at Good Food's Cold Packs.
I really don't know what it is
but I know it's 99 percent biodegradable just by reading
the package.
Which is good.
[Asha] But is it for real?
Nicole and Myles rip one open.
Let's see what 99 biodegradable looks like?
It looks gross.
[Asha] And they do what they always do, throw it down
the sink.
Hello Fresh sometimes uses a similar pack but they don't
make the same claims.
Can you even guess what's in it?
I really don't know what's in it.
-Would you like to know? -I would.
We're going to find out.
Terrific.
[Asha] Our three families collect all their packaging for
a month.
And now we're meeting at this Durham waste facility just
outside Toronto for the big recycling reveal.
Peter, so good to be with you.
Nice to meet you, Asha.
[Asha] Peter Veiga is the manager of "waste
management" here.
The box is fully recyclable in the blue box program, okay?
That's good.
[Asha] He breaks it down for us, cardboard boxes and rigid
plastics like this can all go in the blue bin but after that
things take a turn.
Then we get to the interesting stuff, these film plastics.
These are all different plastics, you said-- this one
is crunchy, this one is soft, this one-- this one is
multilayered because it's plastic with printing on the
outside, foil on the inside.
In most programs in Ontario this is not a blue box
material.
And we get a lot of those in these boxes, yeah.
Yeah, not recyclable at all.
[Asha] In fact we check.
It's about the same in many regions right across Canada.
How would a consumer know what is recyclable, what isn't?
Yeah, and that's why you always have to check with your local
recycling program.
Go on the municipality's website and they have a full
list of what's recyclable, what's not recyclable.
I feel disappointed.
I'd like to have more things recyclable.
Like they could make choices to choose plastics that are
recyclable.
Shana, should consumers demand more?
Absolutely.
I think that after this, I'm going to actually write a
letter and I hope they listen to us.
[Asha] Hello Fresh now owns Chef's Plate and they say
they're committed to reducing plastic packaging.
As for Good Food, Nicole and Myles liked the packaging and
can you blame 'em for believing it's all recyclable?
Remember all those claims.
For example, those 99 percent biodegradable cool packs?
It's water and a chemical called sodium polyacrylate.
The same stuff you'll find in diapers and it's not
biodegradable.
Here's my question, what are we supposed to do with it then?
Right now you put it in the garbage.
Like the whole thing in the garbage?
Yeah.
See, that's really misleading to people because when it says
ninety nine percent biodegradable, so people think
automatically it's safe to put down the drain.
And as well as the packaging says, all recyclable.
Yeah, it's not all recyclable.
It kind of makes me feel bad a little bit.
They should say recyclable where facilities exist.
Like, we will not recycle this in Durham region.
Are you guys shocked?
-Yeah. -I'm blown.
[Asha] Good Food tells us they're working on eliminating
their cool packs and say, they'll be delivering food in
electric refrigerated vehicles instead.
I think it's one of the most frustrating things for people,
is we don't even know anymore what to put in our blue boxes.
[Asha] Karen says companies can throw these claims on their
packaging because in Canada there are no rules defining
what is recyclable.
Bottom line?
There is too much plastic in all these meal delivery kits
[Asha] But we wanted to talk to Good Food especially about the
claims right on their packaging.
They don't talk to us on camera so we're sending this back with
a little message.
[♪♪♪]
And we're not done yet.
Three chicken dinners.
Three big brands, which one tastes the best?
[Asha] This is your Marketplace.
Time for a taste test.
Three chicken dinners from three different meal kits.
All these companies sure make big promises.
They can save you time...
[Woman] Just about everything you need to make
home cooking effortless.
[Asha] ..money, and they've got a ton of delicious recipes.
But which kit tastes the best?
We've called in some food influencers to find out.
Hubert Leung and Florence Tang.
The cooking instructions laid out step by step.
Should I flip it?
[Asha] Let's hear Hubert and Florence dish out their
opinions.
On Good Food, Hello Fresh and Chef's Plate.
Mm mm, pretty good.
I'd say the selection across all companies is really good.
[Asha] And the verdict on the best tasting meal kit is.
I liked Good Food the best because i think the flavour was
well-rounded.
I liked the Chef's Plate one the most.
I thought that was fun to cook.
[Asha] So a win for taste but a
big loss when it comes to plastic waste.