Photo: iStock
June 23, 2020
In the wake of
COVID-19, many, if not most, restaurants have gone back to single-use products
to provide customers with clean, first-use packaging and utensils in the
increasingly germ-conscious environment, according to research from the
Cleveland, Ohio-based Freedonia Group.
Even the most
strictly regulated markets around the use of single-use products, including
California and the United Kingdom, have suspended regulations around such
products, according to a press release on the data.
As a result,
Freedonia Group anticipates the pandemic's existence in everyday food service
will simultaneous boost the world's single-use food service product market —
estimated at $58 billion last year.
In recent
years, an increasing number of jurisdictions globally enacted regulations and
bans on single-use food service products, particularly plastic stirrers,
straws, and bags, which make up a massive share of the earth's plastics
pollution problem. Freedonia Group estimates that plastic is expected to lose
share of the global foodservice single-use product market to paper and other
more eco-friendly materials through 2024.
Despite the
ongoing shift away from plastic, the pandemic has altered perceptions of
plastic single-use products, which are considered more hygienic than reusable
items. As restaurants reopen, many are opting to use single-use cups, cutlery,
and plates instead of reusable service ware for dine-in guests.
The company
also said global demand for food service disposables will be bolstered by
surging delivery and takeaway orders, which entail intensive use of a range of
single-use items. This trend is highly likely to continue beyond the pandemic,
as online food delivery was already a fast-growing trend and many consumers
will continue to practice social distancing even after lock down orders are
lifted.
This article is cited from https://reurl.cc/4Redrv