Consumption patterns that must change - so what’s next as lockdown eases?

We live in interesting times, and even during the global pandemic, the growing interest of the media, consumers and society at large, on the waste and resources sector has continued. The sector’s frontline staff have been thanked on many occasions for continuing to work through the lockdown, keeping the public safe and protecting our environment. Despite the positivity, there has been an increasing number of reports focused on plastic pollution of our rivers and oceans, micro-pollutants, and the issue of disposing of increasing amounts of PPE, particularly face masks and gloves now in wide circulation . This has continued to give plastic a bad name. Though, as I have said on many occasions, it isn’t plastic that’s the problem, but how we use and dispose of it. The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly challenged us in terms of both materials and behaviours.