November 2020

Air pollution, Food deliveries, and Plastic Waste. How are these three related? Studies show that air pollution is causing a rise in food delivery and plastic waste. Because of air pollution, people are ordering more food. Because they are ordering more takeout, plastic waste is rising. Let’s talk about why this is happening.

Why Food Deliveries?

Well, this part is easy to explain. People are ordering food because they don’t want to go outside. With talks about covid-19 spreading by aerosols and the fires contaminating the air we breath, people are taking precautions. One of these precautions include hiring food delivery services to bring groceries and takeout directly to their homes. This means they don’t have to expose themselves to the outdoors and risk breathing in contaminated air. It makes it very convenient for people to order food from the comfort of their own home. This makes them feel safe by reducing their exposure to the outside. Plus, they think they’re doing a good deed by helping slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Rise In Plastic Waste

While staying inside reducing one problem (reducing the spread of the corona virus), it causes a rise in a different issue, plastic waste. There’s no doubt that plastic waste is bad for nature. It doesn’t decompose and it’s literally everywhere you look. It makes a negative impact on everyone’s and everything’s environment. It’s littered all over the place. It ruins our lands and oceans. It releases toxins as they breakdown. And, it kills way too many animals. But, it’s convenient. It makes our lives easier. It’s cheap. It allows for many different things to be made, including the packaging we get our food delivered in. And, it’s easily available. These are the ingredients for more and more plastic waste. Obviously, there’s no quick and easy solution to stop plastic waste, but it is an issue that needs to be looked at.

The Link

So, how does plastic waste, food deliveries, and air pollution relate? Air pollution increases food delivery orders, thus increasing plastic waste. Because air pollution has been terrible lately and the coronavirus pandemic is requiring people to social distance, food delivery services has been on the rise. Therefore, making the link between air pollution and the rise in plastic waste. Even though restaurants have taken strides in reducing plastic waste by using more paper products, but because of air pollution and more food deliver services are being used, it makes it more difficult.

Inside Air

With all this talk about limiting outdoor exposure, it has to be known that inside air is just as important as outside air. Because inside air isn’t diluted like outside air, it is important to take the necessary steps in keeping your indoor air quality (IAQ) high. A good filtration system can help with that. Having an air purifier with a quality HEPA filter can help clean at an efficiency of 99% and filter out particulates as small as 0.3 microns. Cleaning air ducts and vents will help increase your IAQ, as well as, vacuuming occasionally. Using carbon filters in your filtration system will help reduce odors from cooking and smoke. There are many ways to increase indoor air quality and if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact us.