Sandy Kotan, the owner of Only One Planet, has teamed up with business consultants The Idea to help develop “Eat2Donate”.

The programme allows people ordering a meal for delivery to give $2 to $3 to buy one for members of marginalised communities and frontline workers at Khmer-Soviet hospital via Friends International.

“Since its introduction on April 3, the programme has delivered nearly 250 meals and received donations in excess of 300 meals.

“I love my job but it’s these sorts of projects that really motivate me to grow the business, and I can use the profits to support projects like this that have a meaningful, positive impact for the Cambodian people,” Kotan said.

The name Only One Planet may sound familiar. It provides eco-friendly packaging alternatives to restaurants across the Kingdom.

It distributes compostable boxes for takeaways, as well as bowls, glasses, sauce cups and plates of various sizes made out of sugar cane.

Kotan, who took over the firm in 2018, has broadened the company’s restaurant range, adding straws made from noodles and wooden cutlery. She has also added a reusable silicon products to help reduce dependence on single-use plastics.

The company, with only three staff, has made significant inroads in providing sustainable packaging to the food and beverage industry and become a vibrant part of Cambodia’s eco-community.

However, it is facing challenges due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Despite her business being in a precarious position and orders dwindling, Kotan is still giving back.

She regularly supports environmentally conscious projects and initiatives, including supplying the Trapaeng Sangke Eco Resort with 500 mangrove saplings and products for its guesthouses.

She has lobbied food delivery apps to add a filter identifying restaurants that are eco-conscious and allow users to refuse condiments and cutlery.

She has also brought Cocolist – a digital directory of environmentally friendly businesses – to Cambodia.

“Humanity has moved from a culture that respected and revered their natural environment to a more extractive model – as if the Earth existed only to give its bounty to humans,” she said.

Made of bagasse – the fibrous residue from sugarcane extraction – Only One Planet’s plates and containers account for 80 per cent of its business. These products take about four weeks to decompose naturally in a landfill.

Kotan stressed that people must begin to differentiate between “biodegradable” and “compostable” products.

“Everything is biodegradable eventually, from plastic bags to even this,” she said knocking on her phone.

“Many companies are marketing products as ‘biodegradable’, but the term is often used deceptively and has become almost meaningless.

“The best products will be ‘home compostable’ and vendors will provide certification and content testing, among others without hesitation. In Cambodia, even the ‘industrially iompostable’ certification means little as there are no facilities here, and in landfills, they will often perform much like regular plastics,” she said.

Kotan arrived in Cambodia five years ago and not only adopted it as her home, but a young boy too.

It is just another example of how she is dedicated to giving back to the community.

However, with the demand for delivery and takeaway spiking, the Arizona native revealed she is holding on and hoping for the Covid-19 storm to subside leaving her business standing.

“We were doing just great until six weeks ago, but to be honest, I’m not sure what the future holds.

“I estimate that at least 60 to 70 per cent of my clients have closed, some temporarily, but others permanently.

“Although the delivery model is very popular now, the net result is a 60 to 70 per cent drop in overall business,” said Kotan.

When asked what the chances were of Only One Planet remaining operational in September, she said it was “between a four and a six [out of 10]”.

As the interview concludes, Kotan answers her phone.

She had been neglecting it for about an hour.

On the other end is a delivery driver with a donation of face masks from a supplier.

The Rotary Club of Phnom Penhalong, of which she is president of, has also donated hand sanitiser to the cause.

She intends to provide both along with the meals from Eat2Donate.

“There’s still so much kindness amid all the gloom,” said Kotan.