Hi guys! Welcome back to my blog!
Today, the title may seem controversial, but hopefully, you will come to see my perspective through this post. COVID-19 has affected our livelihood like never before. One of the most prevalent things to do during this pandemic is to take away food or food delivery (Chua & Ang, 2021). This is evident as Foodpanda, one of Singapore’s most prominent food delivery platforms, reported a 50% increase in delivery orders (Ong, 2021). Taking away food and food delivery allows us to protect our health from the rampant and contagious COVID-19. However, this also increases the number of disposable food containers and cutleries we use. This trend is observed not only in Singapore but also in the rest of the world.
According to Thailand Environment Institute, in Bangkok, the average amount of plastic from food packaging increases by 62%, from 2,120 tons in 2019 to 3,440 tons in 2020 (Liu et al., 2021). Single-use plastics are often non-bio-degradable. The increase in non-bio-degradable disposable plastics from food packaging will increase the pressure on our environmental health. Thus, many would often pollute the soil and water, as seen in the pictures below.
Plastic trash polluting a water body (Crawford, 2018)
Soil polluted by plastic waste in Pakistan (Business Times, 2019)
In the next few posts, I will explore the different types of food packaging we usually use and how it pollutes the environment. Stay tuned!
Reference
Chua, N., & Ang, S. (2021, October 7). Demand hots up for online groceries, food deliveries in s’pore amid tightened covid-19 curbs. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/consumer/demand-hots-up-for-online-groceries-food-deliveries-amid-tightened-covid-19-curbs
Liu, C., Bunditsakulchai, P., & Zhuo, Q. (2021). Impact of covid-19 on food and plastic waste generated by consumers in Bangkok. Sustainability, 13(16), 8988. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168988
Ong, J. (2021, May 19). Covid-19: With no dining in, food delivery firms report jump in demand but some riders see little change in earnings. TODAY. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/covid-19-no-dining-food-delivery-firms-report-jump-demand-some-riders-see-little-change
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