Page 56 - Varsity Special Issue

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Plastic
Plastic

Pandemic
P andemic

How is the city fighting against single-use plastics
amid COVID-19?

By Kassandra Lai & Fiona Cheung

student in a traditional blue 21 per cent of municipal solid waste People carrying takeaway food in been eased and reintroduced for a few ers. pany, The Loops, collects plastics di-
cheongsam waited in a long with a daily disposal quantity of 2,343 several plastic containers, however, times since then. As of September 30, “I feel alone and not supported be- rectly from customers’ residences and
A queue in front of a restau- tonnes per day. Almost nine per cent has become a common scene in Hong the number of customers at any cater- cause none of my schoolmates does sorts wastes collected before giving
rant. While other students returned of them were plastic or polyfoam-din- Kong under COVID-19. ing premises must not exceed half of the same and some restaurants don’t them to recycling factories.
to school with their lunch packed in ing wares. As confirmed cases of coronavirus the normal seating capacity and no understand or feel annoyed,” Cheung Wong also sees a drastic increase
white styrofoam boxes, she handed It takes 500 years for plastics in surged in March, the government an- more than four persons can sit to- says. in plastic use from his customers.
out her lunchbox after ordering her landfill sites to decompose, according nounced its first dining restriction on gether at one table. “We see plastic use jump by 50 per
takeaway. The waitress looked hesi- to the Friends of the Earth. March 27, and the regulations have With uncertainty of the pandemic Seeking Alternatives cent when dining in restaurants was
tant while reaching for the container. and changes in dine-in restrictions, Noticing the severity of the plastic banned all day,” he says.
Emily Cheung Yee-kwan, an “ many restaurants have rolled out take- waste problem, businesses in Hong As of September, The Loops have
18-year-old student, was one of the away or food delivery services. Over Kong seek solutions to tackle the is- hundreds of customers in Tseung
only few in her school to do so. So I bring my containers as the past few months, Foodpanda, a sue. Jorch Wong Ching-hei, founder Kwan O, the only district in which
“I was taught to avoid using dis- I feel uncomfortable and guilty knowing mobile food delivery marketplace, has of a recycling business started in late the company is operating. “Up to now
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posable plastics,” says Cheung. “So I also observed an uplift in demand or- 2019, sees a loophole in Hong Kong (late September), we have recycled
bring my containers as I feel uncom- that single-use plastic ones are going to der by 50 per cent in Hong Kong on recycling chain: unreliable recycling about 1.5 tonnes of plastics and we are
fortable and guilty knowing that sin- the overall platform, including both bins. seeing an increasing trend,” he says.
gle-use plastic ones are going to end end up in the landfill for years. food and grocery delivery services. “Most Hong Kong people don’t The company hopes to extend its ser-
up in the landfill for years.” The health crisis seems to have de- know what is recyclable so they put vice into other districts in the future.
According to the data from the railed effort against plastic waste re- everything in it, including diapers and Recycling aside, some restaurants
Environmental Protection Depart- duction and left many in frustrations, masks,” he says. To prevent the recy- try to eliminate plastic waste source
ment in 2018, plastics constituted ” as few are bringing their own contain- cling from going to waste, his com- by finding alternatives to replace plas-