As part of a broader year-long effort to support those who use Uber Eats to grow their businesses, Uber and Visa have announced a new program designed to support small-and medium-sized businesses in their transition to green and sustainable packaging solutions.

Together, the two companies will make $1 million accessible to qualifying Uber Eats restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Madrid to be used towards funding sustainable packaging solutions to help transition to a greener future.

“Building on the success of our shared support for small and medium-sized businesses, I’m very happy to be turning our efforts with Visa towards how we can help restaurant owners reduce packaging waste and contribute to the fight against climate change,” says Pierre-Dmitri Gore-Coty, senior vice president and global head of delivery for Uber. “Single-use packaging is used in nearly every takeout order worldwide—with Visa and our restaurant partners we can work towards reducing waste and helping small businesses thrive.”

Uber and Visa have launched this initiative in Davos, Switzerland, where the companies are highlighting impact from their shared 2022 Grants for Growth program that has supported US small business owners still recovering from the pandemic and other unexpected events. Merchants received microgrants of $10,000, used for payroll, paying outstanding debt to vendors, upgrading payment technology infrastructure, and other immediate operational costs.

“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,” says Douglas Sabo, chief sustainability officer, Visa Inc. “Visa is excited to expand on our partnership with Uber Eats to help small businesses to not be left out of the sustainable business transformations this moment requires.”

Sustainable packaging is a priority to many restaurants, but the cost and continued supply chain issues faced by the industry make it difficult. Uber Eats and Visa hope that this new program is a small step in a positive direction for small business owners towards this goal.