COVID-19 Is Increasing Global Use of Disposable Food Packaging, Risking Health and Environment. Now What?

How To Invest In Safer and More Sustainable Disposable Food Packaging.

Disposable food service ware made from plastic, paper and other materials is being used at greater rates during the coronavirus pandemic. This has notable short- and long-term implications for both human health and the environment.

Orb Media has developed a readily-usable methodology to assess various foodware, especially where reusables are not an option. Selecting and investing in safer, more sustainable single-use materials and products — including those listed in our accompanying guide — can help reduce the impact of foodware use, now and in the future.

Along with many other disruptions to the lives of people around the planet, COVID-19 has changed the way millions of us eat every day.

As restaurants and other food service providers, including hotels and universities, have shut down indoor dining, or opened only at limited capacity, takeout and delivery have become the new normal.

Online meal delivery revenues in the United States are projected to reach $26.5 billion this year, a 20 percent increase over 2019. San Francisco-based delivery service DoorDash, which operates in the United States, Canada and Australia, has seen business skyrocket during the pandemic. The company was valued at more than $39 billion upon going public on December 9.

In the United Kingdom, which has a population of 66 million, nearly 19 million people are estimated to have ordered food delivery directly from a restaurant this year, a 19 percent increase over 2019. And more than 10 million used a third-party delivery service, a 25 percent jump. The CEO of London-based delivery app Deliveroo estimated earlier this month that COVID-19 has accelerated the already-trending adoption of online prepared food delivery by two to three years.

What’s more, many restaurants and cafes still serving dine-in meals have swapped their standard tableware for disposable single-use plates, cups and cutlery. Many believe that washable, reusable, chemically safer flatware and cutlery present a greater risk of disease transmission than disposables. This however remains unfounded, as many public-health experts argue.

Meanwhile, consumption of fast food has also gone up.

With social distancing measures in place, single-use foodware made of plastic, paper, and other materials provides convenience and accessibility to food prepared outside the home. Yet this comes at great costs to both our environment and personal health.

Environmental and climate impacts include excessive use of energy, water and other resources required to manufacture, transport and then safely dispose of non-biodegradable foodware. Single-use plastics in particular can have devastating effects on wildlife and the environment if not disposed of properly.

While environmental concerns associated with single-use plastics and other disposable foodware have gained visibility in recent years, most food packaging continues to harbor hidden, potentially harmful chemicals that can migrate into food and drinks.

Since even before COVID-19, evolving policies, regulations and consumer demand have compelled industries to develop alternatives to conventional food-contact chemicals, materials and products. Many products presently available, however, do not adequately address health and climate concerns. In some cases, innovations have not led to any improvements at all. Bisphenol A (BPA) in particular, used in baby bottles, water bottles and other food-contact articles with Bisphenol S (BPS), has turned out to be just as harmful as previous formulas.

As biodegradable products and other ostensibly environmentally friendly alternatives enter the global market, human health risks remain a persistent and immediate threat.

Many experts continue to call for reusables  — particularly those made from inert stainless steel, glass, and ceramics, as opposed to washable plastics. New systems of managing reusable food service ware in particular, intended for takeout and delivery, could become adopted in the future.

One-to-one disposable replacements however could also gain prevalence, especially in light of growing consumer awareness, new bans on single-use plastics and innovations committed to safer, more sustainable materials and products among start-ups and large corporations.

Now is the time to focus even greater attention on designing, producing and using disposable food service products that are not only better for the environment, but also our bodies. “During COVID, there’s this opportunity,” says Sue Chiang, Pollution Prevention Director for the US-based nonprofit Center for Environmental Health. “Everything has been disrupted, so there’s an opportunity to think about how we do the whole thing.”

Orb Media has developed a comprehensive methodology to estimate health and environmental impacts on a product-by-product basis. In addition, we have published a list of preferred materials to help stakeholders make more informed choices when investing in new products and technologies, especially in the face of imminent and mounting threats.