Category: restaurants

Today we feature two MABR students’ opinions on marketing during and after a pandemic. In this piece, Julia Gesink shares her thoughts on Bagging COVID: Restaurant’s Responsibility in the Pandemic and the Fight Against Plastic Pollution”

Before COVID-19 rocked the restaurant industry in early March, it seemed progress being made when it came to sustainable efforts within restaurants. Perhaps you noticed your favorite restaurant making the simple switch from plastic to-go materials, or the banning of plastic straws. Maybe you even noticed restaurants implement food waste composting. Regardless, it was proactive and important. These sustainability efforts shouldn’t be pushed to the side during this pandemic.

As we all know, when COVID-19 hit, many restaurants were forced to close abruptly for several months. When restaurants began re-opening in late May, sustainable practices recently put in place, were decimated. Fearful of spreading the virus through reusable glassware, plates, and silverware, restaurants provided single-use plastic for dine-in customers and take-out orders.

It’s no secret that plastic pollution is detrimental to the environment, but in April 2020, research also found that “the virus remains viable 3x longer on plastic than any other tested surface,” (The New England Journal of Medicine).

I currently work as a server at a popular Eugene restaurant, and for the first few weeks of the pandemic, corporate believed that using disposable cups were the safest alternative for customers. In addition to this afront on sustainability, most dine-in customers demanded plastic to-go silverware because they didn’t believe our dishes and reusable flatware were safe. For months, I cringed as I served these plastic ramicans, disposable cups, and silverware. All the while, asking myself, “is this pandemic a free pass on sustainability efforts and the ongoing climate crisis?”

According to The Economist, “The International Solid Waste Association estimates consumption of single-use plastic may have grown 250% to 300% in America since the coronavirus pandemic began.”

Although handling the pandemic is at the forefront of every business right now, it’s crucial that the restaurant industry recognizes its role within the climate crisis, and it takes new approaches in order to lower that 300% increase in plastic pollution.

During this pandemic especially, restaurants should immediately stop the use of single-use plastics for dine in, and disposable utensils and sauce packets should only be available upon request for to-go orders. Although restaurants were already cleaning dishes extensively in pre-pandemic times, new sanitization procedures approved by the CDC could be adopted in order to further gain trust with customers when it comes to reusable utensils and glassware. If financially possible, restaurants could also invest in more eco-friendly dishwashers and appliances, especially if during the pandemic things are being cleaned several times before use.

It’s imperative that restaurants find the balance of following protocols and precautions in regard to COVID in order to keep everyone safe, and that they explore solutions against single-use plastics throughout this global pandemic and beyond. The planet simply cannot afford another disastrous year of plastic pollution and extreme waste.

Links:https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/06/22/covid-19-has-led-to-a-pandemic-of-plastic-pollution
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973