Travel must redouble efforts on plastic waste – WTTC

The WTTC said this shift was underlined by a 2019 global study on plastics, which found that more than 80% of respondents were aware of the issues posed by plastic waste and were taking action to tackle pollution.

Additionally, the WTTC claims the pandemic has had both negative and positive impacts on plastic pollution, such as increased demand for take-away services.

It cites a report from the Thailand Environment Institute, which revealed plastic waste has increased from 1,500 to 6,300 tonnes a day due to soaring home deliveries of food since the start of the pandemic.

Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, director of the UNEP’s economy division, added: "Travel and tourism has a key role to play in addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, as well as making circularity in the use of plastics a reality."

“The advent of Covid-19 and consequent proliferation of single-use plastic products has added urgency to the crises. With this report, we hope to encourage stakeholders in this industry to come together to address this multifaceted challenge. Only by doing so, can we ensure meaningful and durable change."