The plastic pandemic is only getting worse during COVID-19

Jul 1, 2020

Shoes are stored in plastic bags during prayers at the Grand Mosque, after weeks of lockdown restrictions following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Brussels, Belgium, June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

The production and necessary disposal of single-use plastics have skyrocketed since COVID-19 Image: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Jacob Duer

President and CEO, Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Plastics and the Environment is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Plastics and the Environment

Have you read?

Employees work on a production line of surgical masks for export, at a railway equipment manufacturing company in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT. - RC2U0G91RT4J

Single use plastics used on a production line of surgical masks for export. Image: REUTERS

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Plastics and the Environment
See all

INC-3: Here’s what happened at the UN global plastics treaty talks

Kate Whiting and Robin Pomeroy

December 5, 2023

New research links nanoplastics to Parkinson’s and some types of dementia

Janosch Heller

December 5, 2023

2:30

Global Plastic Action Partnership 2023

4 promising approaches to eliminating plastic pollution in Africa

Bontu Yousuf

November 13, 2023

The countdown is on for a UN treaty on plastic pollution to move from aspiration into action

Leanne Geale

November 9, 2023

What's the best way to handle e-waste, including old phone chargers?

Ian Williams

October 12, 2023