Consumers use 10 kilograms of plastic each year in single food deliveries: study

The Korea Consumer Agency warned that a single person generates over 10 kilograms of plastic waste each year using food delivery services.

The consumer watchdog studied the plastic packaging used for 10 kinds of delivered food ordered from three different food delivery apps, which showed that an average of 18.3 plastic packages, weighing around 147.7 grams, were used for single food delivery.

The plastic packaging includes containers used for the main and side dishes, covers, plastic bags plastic wrap, and sauce containers.

The agency estimated that each person consumes an average of 2.8 food deliveries each week, equivalent to roughly 1,341.6 items of plastic packaging a year and 10.8 kg of waste.

The packaging accounts for 12.2 percent of each person’s annual plastic consumption of 88 kilograms, according to the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Only 45.5 percent of plastic packaging utilized in food deliveries was recyclable, according to the study, which excluded unrecyclable polystyrene and sealed-wrapped packaging containers.