This Aug. 25, 2020, photo shows food wrapped in plastic containers and bags for delivery at a restaurant in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — A single person generates more than 10 kilograms of plastic waste each year using food delivery services, a consumer watchdog said Thursday.
The Korea Consumer Agency studied the plastic packaging used for 10 kinds of delivered food ordered from three different food delivery apps (a total of 30 food deliveries), which showed that an average of 18.3 plastic packages, weighing around 147.7 grams, were used for a single food delivery.
The plastic packaging includes containers used for the main and side dishes, covers, plastic wrap, sauce containers and plastic bags.
The agency, based on data provided by local pollster Open Survey in May of last year, estimated that an average of 2.8 food deliveries each week amounts to some 1,341.6 items of plastic packaging per person each year, generating around 10.8 kilograms of plastic waste.
This accounts for 12.2 percent of each person’s annual plastic consumption of 88 kilograms, as reported by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Excluding unrecyclable plastic such as polystyrene and plastic-wrapped sealing containers, only 45.5 percent of plastic packaging used in food deliveries was recyclable.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
