"Global Waste Doubled After COVID-19... China's 'Zero COVID' Policy Played a Role"

'Garbage Flood' Crisis Amid China's Lockdown Policy

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the amount of disposable waste generated.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping and food delivery have increased, leading to an estimated more than doubling of global plastic waste generation.

On the 24th (local time), Bloomberg News cited a paper from the scientific journal Nature, estimating that over 530 million tons of plastic waste were generated worldwide during the seven months following the initial COVID-19 outbreak (December 2019 to June 2020). Therefore, the total amount of plastic waste in 2020 is estimated to have more than doubled compared to 2019 (approximately 400 million tons).

This is because the non-face-to-face lifestyle during COVID-19 caused a surge in e-commerce and food delivery, resulting in massive amounts of packaging waste. Such waste consists of various plastic composites that cannot be recycled.

The Hong Kong environmental organization 'OceansAsia' estimated that 1.56 billion masks flowed into the ocean in 2020, adversely affecting marine life.

People wearing protective suits in Shanghai, China, are unloading food supplies from a truck to deliver to quarantined residents. / Photo by AP Yonhap News

In particular, China's 'Zero COVID' policy has been criticized for causing a 'flood of waste.' Since March, China has maintained strict lockdowns in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which has led to an explosive increase in non-face-to-face daily waste.

In fact, in Shanghai, COVID-19-related waste such as personal protective equipment (PPE) used by medical staff increased more than 4.5 times, from about 308 tons per day before the outbreak to 1,400 tons per day recently.

According to the state-run daily People's Daily, COVID-19-related waste from ordinary households in Shanghai surged from 73 tons per day to 3,300 tons per day this month.

In Chinese households, waste is not sorted for recycling, and about 97% of urban household waste is known to be buried or incinerated.

The international environmental organization Greenpeace reported that packaging waste from online shopping in China was 9.4 million tons in 2018 and is expected to reach 41 million tons by 2025.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.