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COVID-19 impact on plastic crisis

12/10/2020

An investigation by Reuters found that the majority of recycling businesses have shrunk by more than 20% in Europe, by 50% in parts of Asia and as much as 60% in the US.

The Reuters investigation entitled “The Plastic Pandemic, found that “COVID-19 has hit plastic recycling, just as big oil firms are investing hundreds of billions of dollars to make new plastic. These investments massively exceed the industry’s spending to tackle plastic waste.”

The report adds: “This year alone, Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BASF have announced petrochemical plant investments in China worth a combined $25 billion (€21 million), tapping into rising demand for consumer goods in the world’s most populous country.”

 
ECS’s Director of Recycling, Adrian Lovatt explained: “It’s no secret that COVID-19 has had detrimental effects on the issue of plastic as a whole. Recycling centre closures are a common feature across the UK and recent statistics have shown that fly tipping and the illegal removal of waste are at an unprecedented level.

“Combined with the fact the pandemic has sparked a fresh rush for more plastic as the demand for gloves, face shields and takeaway food containers rises, the overall situation is even worse than twelve months ago, but that doesn’t mean our industry’s goals or approach to plastic have to change, in fact, it puts more onus on us as an industry who can have a clear, long lasting and positive effect.”

ECS also added that over the next few decades, population growth and income growth are also expected to increase demand for new plastics which will help to support safety, convenience and improved living standards.

Despite SME’s only having a small impact at one end of the scale in comparison with large oil companies who produce new plastic at a rate greater than any recycling scheme can match,  Duncan Glover MD of Cartridge World Cyprus insists that our industry still has its own part to play, and offers a responsible zero waste empty cartridge recovery service with export to licensed brokers that carefully select items for reuseas refilled ink and remanufactured toner and the remainder for processing as metal and plastic for future industrial reuse.

You can read the Reuters investigation here.

Source: shorturl.at/htyGU adapted by Duncan Glover