COVID-19 and plastic pollution in rivers in Asia and the Pacific
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the entire plastic value chain from production to consumption, and increased concerns over plastic pollution. Strengthened concerns over hygiene and safety mass-introduced disposable plastics such as masks, bottles of hand sanitizers, hand gloves into our daily lives. Personal protective equipment (PPE) use has increased. The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated online shopping overall and delivery of essential items like groceries and food, causing a hike in single-use plastic products (SUPPs) packaging from the e-commerce sector. The pandemic also caused disinformation on SUPPs being a safer option to reusables, which inflated the consumption of SUPs as well as caused policy setbacks in curbing SUP pollution. The pandemic also disrupted waste collection, segregation and recycling.
With a prominent panel of experts, this Webinar will share information on and discuss the:
- altered landscape of quantity and composition of plastics in our daily lives and in waste streams,
- changed sentiment over plastic during the pandemic and ways forward in balancing safety and sustainability through education, innovation, and regulation to unpause the interruption in plastics reuse and recycling during the pandemic, and
- delayed and derailed SUPP policies and call for attention and actions to halt unnecessary use of SUPs and to continue reducing plastic pollution in rivers.
The webinar will be held on Thursday, 28 October, in two hours to serve the Asia and Pacific regions:
1- Pacific: 16:00 – 17:00 hrs (Samoa time)
2- Asia: 15:00 – 16:00 hrs (Bangkok time)
- Welcome & Introduction to the Webinar
- Presentation of the findings of the literature review and highlights of the Technical Paper: “Use of disposable plastics and community infection of COVID-19”
- Discussion panel
Kakuko has designed and facilitated over 150 multi-stakeholder consultations, planning exercises, and trainings over 40 countries and has co-authored and edited multiple publications on environmental assessment, environmental health, environmental policy and enforcement, and youth-led environmental movements. She holds BSc in Zoology/ Wildlife Conservation from Fort Valley State College in Georgia, USA, and MSc in Environmental Management from University of Stirling in Scotland, UK.
