The plastic pandemic: coronavirus and plastic pollution.

The Burning Case

We've seen a big surge in awareness on plastic pollution in the past few years. So much so that living a "zero waste lifestyle" became cool and the European Commission adopted one of the fastest legislation in its history on single use plastics last year.
But then, Covid-19 happened and with it, masks, gloves, single use items mainly made of... plastics!
In this episode, we talk to the experts from Zero Waste Europe. We start by addressing whether lifestyle changes towards less waste are efficient considering the scale of the issue and whether this movement suffers from a privilege issue. We then analyse what the impacts of covid on the battle against plastics look like and how the industry lobby used the pandemic to try and present single use as the only efficient way to fight the virus.
While they thanksfully didn't win this battle, they're working hard to undo the win of the single use directives that bans 10 types of products by intervening in the final stages of the law implementation. We're talking how a petition is trying to remind policymakers of their promises so that they can face down the plastics industry, who right now are hard at work behind the scenes.
We hope you like it! Don't forget to let us know, follow us on instagram and subscribe to our newsletter!