The plastic pandemic

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The pandemic has brought with it a massive rise in plastic waste. Tamasin Ford looks at how the demand for hygiene along with plummeting oil prices boosted our use of single use plastics. In some countries, it has increased by 50 percent. In other countries, the increase has been even six or seven fold. She speaks to Gary Stokes, the Founder of Oceans Asia in Hong Kong, a marine conservation organisation. And to Amy Slack, head of campaigns and policy at Surfers Against Sewage, an ocean conservation group in St Agnes in Cornwall in the South West of England. Plus Jacob Duer, the CEO of the Alliance to End Plastic waste, based in Singapore - an organisation supported by the private sector. And Elsie Mbugua, an energy trader and founder of Elcy Investments.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Tamerson Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:06.5	Coronavirus has hit our economies, our families, our children's education, but it's also
0:13.7	taking its toll on our environment too. What we see is that there has been a significant increase
0:20.0	in the waste generation.
0:22.1	In some countries, it has increased by 50% in other countries.
0:26.0	The increase has been even six or sevenfold.
0:28.7	The demand for hygiene, coupled with plummeting oil prices, resulted in a perfect storm for the plastics industry.
0:36.6	The subsequent drop in crude oil prices supported a reduction in the prices of new plastic.
0:43.3	This meant that producers of plastic and their off-takers as well could take advantage of this price drop.
0:50.5	In today's Business Daily from the BBC, we take a look at the plastic pandemic.
0:59.1	Have you got your grabbers?
1:00.9	Yes.
1:02.5	We're off to the playground on the edge of the forest with our little pick of grabbers and a bin bag.
1:08.3	We're still in lockdown here in the UK, so this is literally as adventurous as our days get.
1:15.5	So we've been walking for less than five minutes and we've already seen one face mask on the ground.
1:23.8	It's not only face masks we find lying on the ground.
1:32.9	The place is littered with takeaway food containers and coffee cups too.
1:40.9	Oh rubbish.
1:45.7	Take a picture of it for your work. Okay. Auntie, what do you think is rubbish? Take a picture of it for your work.
1:46.4	Okay.
1:48.3	Actually, what do you think of all this rubbish?
1:49.5	Bad.
	...

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