In the earlier posts, we found out that food waste from the household is considered to be one of the biggest environmental issues. After the Dorscon level was elevated to Orange in February in Singapore, many flocked to supermarkets and cleared the shelf, purchasing household items such as food and cleaning supplies (Low and Chandra, 2020). The uncertainty that Covid-19 brought about caused consumers to perceive having less food and therefore stockpiling more than needed, in turn producing also higher waste (Brizi and Biraglia, 2020). Studies that found that “individuals have not consumed a good proportion of the stockpiled food, resulting in increasing amounts of products ending up wasted” (ibid.).
Also, during the circuit breaker in Singapore from April to June 2020, there were strict rules implemented about dining out and school classes and work was shifted to ‘home-based learning’ and ‘work from home’ (Gov.sg, 2020). This resulted in changing consumer behaviour such as an increase in takeaway meals and food delivery, which meant an increase in packaging waste and environmental pollution. “The National Environment Agency reported that 73,000 tonnes of waste were generated in April, up 11% from the previous month” (Oan and Ang, 2020).
Food delivery services increased as dining in was not allowed, hence restaurants and food establishments had to go to their customers. “Deliveroo and GrabFood have seen an increase in deliveries of 20 per cent over the past few weeks, while Foodpanda’s delivery volume went up 15 per cent in February compared to the month before” (Ong, 2020). There was an increasing use of plastic containers, utensils and bags to deliver food to customers and they are often discarded after a single-use. During Covid-19, the plans to be environmentally-friendly were slowed down and switched to unsustainable materials again. For example, a programme by Just Salad for producing reusable bowls to save more than 75,000 pounds of plastic a year was halted and pivoted to delivery and pickup, which meant using only disposable packaging (Newburger and Lucas, 2020). However, there are efforts by corporations to allow consumers to opt-in if they want plastic utensils with their pickup or delivery orders.
Also, due to public health and regulations, there was a restriction on ‘Bring your own’ (BYO) practices and did not allow customers to use reusable containers and bottles for takeaway orders. This regulation was in place as “bottles and cups come into direct contact with a person’s mouth and it is common for traces of body fluids, like saliva, to remain and be in the bottles and cups after usage or even a quick rinse” (Baker, 2020). This led to an increase in disposable containers and cutlery usage, amounting to “an extra 1,334 tonnes of plastic waste – the weight of about 90 double-decker buses – from takeaway and food deliveries during the two-month circuit breaker” (Oan and Ang, 2020). Nonetheless, there has been a relaxation of this regulation and customers and corporations resumed BYO practices.
Trailing off,
Jade and Ridzuan
References
Baker, J.A. (2020). Bring your own containers take a backseat at some eateries amid COVID-19 pandemic. CNA. [online] 20 Jun. Available at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-bring-your-own-containers-risk-12840422 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2020].
Brizi, A. and Biraglia, A. (2021). “Do I have enough food?” How need for cognitive closure and gender impact stockpiling and food waste during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-national study in India and the United States of America. Personality and Individual Differences, [online] 168, p.110396. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886920305870?dgcid=rss_sd_all [Accessed 25 Oct. 2020].
Gov.sg (2020). What you can and cannot do during the circuit breaker period. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.sg/article/what-you-can-and-cannot-do-during-the-circuit-breaker-period [Accessed 25 Oct. 2020].
Low, Y. and Chandra, A. (2020). The Big Read: Panic buying grabbed the headlines, but a quiet resilience is seeing Singaporeans through COVID-19 outbreak. CNA. [online] 17 Feb. Available at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/coronavirus-covid-19-panic-buying-singapore-dorscon-orange-12439480 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2020].
Newburger, E and Lucas, A.. (2020). Plastic waste surges as coronavirus prompts restaurants to use more disposable packaging. CNBC. [online] 28 Jun. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/28/coronavirus-plastic-waste-surges-as-restaurants-use-more-disposable-packaging.html [Accessed 25 Oct. 2020].
Oan, C. and Ang, L.S. (2020). Commentary: Here’s what months of food deliveries and takeaways have taught us. CNA. [online] 21 Jun. Available at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/plastic-zero-waste-byo-food-delivery-takeaway-resuable-container-12844324 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2020].
Ong, J. (2020). Food delivery companies see more orders as Covid-19 outbreak forces some to stay home. TODAY. [online] 8 Mar. Available at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/food-delivery-companies-see-more-orders-covid-19-outbreak-forces-some-stay-home [Accessed 25 Oct. 2020].
