Let’s look at some of the waste related behaviour changes from households since the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged or forced people to stay at home.
1. People are reducing the amount of meals eaten at restaurants, cafes, etc, and eating more at home. This means that more waste will be generated at homes as more meals are prepared, as well as waste from other home based activities. Tonnages collected from households is likely to increase for garbage, recycling and organics services. At the same time, tonnages will decrease for a majority of commercial services.
2. Conversely, although more waste will be produced at home, many people will be avoiding take away containers in favour of a sandwich, sushi or a curry served on a plate at home. This reduces demand for take away packaging. There is still some buoyancy in the take away food market with open restaurants serving take away only.
3. Cafes are also rejecting use of reusable containers such as Keep Cups as they require the staff to make excessive contact with customer items. Disposable cups are preferred as staff aren’t exposed to customer contact.
4. People are trying to reduce their exposure to shops and so they will buy more long life type products which generally have more packaging. Canned vegetables instead of fresh vegetables. Long life packaging instead of simpler standard life packaging. Less farmers market visits and more supermarket visits.
5. Consuming food at home requires more packaging as the same items served in a restaurant or other food service business are generally supplied in bulk containers and with less packaging given they are often ordered frequently and used promptly.
6. With people stockpiling it is possible we will see more food spoil in fridges and cupboards. There may be more food waste from shops and cafes also as they try to manage the lower demand and difficult supply chains.
7. This is the obvious time for a spring clean for those staying at home. Many bins will be full of items from the back of the cupboards as non-essentials make room for toilet paper stocks.
8. There is evidence that people are getting in touch with their outdoor areas, vegetable gardens and things of substance at home. This may encourage some to reduce the amount of waste they produce, perhaps eat food with less packaging. It is the perfect time to encourage those at home to be conscious about their waste generation and disposal.
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