Five Negative, Environmental Impacts of the Pingdemic
Over the past month, business leaders and unions across hospitality, retail, travel, waste management and fuel industries have been calling for a government u-turn on the UK’s track-and-trace guidelines. Whilst the government has since announced that fully vaccinated employees will now be exempt from isolation through the app, the term pingdemic remains a hot topic, with many claiming that the issue has pushed their businesses to the brink of permanent closure.
Given the record high of 689,313 self-isolation alerts sent in the week leading up to 21 July of this year, it’s unsurprising that the sheer volume of individuals isolating has caused disruption to logistical operations on a company-wide scale. Bankruptcy, reduced income, suspended services and food shortages are all among the long list of problems attributed to the pingdemic.
Whilst these issues are almost certainly not news to you, the possible knock-on effects for carbon emissions, food waste and recycling have so far received very little attention. Industrial food orders have been cancelled or wasted at short notice; supermarket work forces have been too depleted to manage stock and waste disposal services have fallen behind, all of which is bad news for our environment. Here’s why:
1. Public transport closures mean a reduction in low-carbon or travel-sharing travel options.
Public transport saves on carbon, that’s a no-brainer. More people using public transport means that less private vehicles are on the roads and less carbon is being emitted. In fact, one study estimates that public transport in the US saves 37 million metric tonnes of CO2 annually.
Since the pingdemic, closures have been announced across several busy transport routes, including the Bakerloo and Victoria lines on the London Underground. Whilst track-and-trace is arguably reducing the strain upon public transport due to fewer people being able to travel, each of these closures causes more people to rely upon private vehicles. In a densely populated city such as London, the subsequent growth in emissions could be sizable.
2. Staff shortages in hospitality, retail and transportation create food waste
Many of the worst-hit jobs in the pingdemic are those involved with food, for example, the drivers involved with transporting food to restaurants and supermarkets, alongside the staff working in those businesses. Unlike holiday or bankruptcy closures, the one of ten hospitality venues which shut their doors due to staff shortages last month did so with little to no warning, meaning that new or incoming stock was wasted. One BBC article stated that 87 million pints of beer will have been thrown away due to COVID-19 related closures since the pandemic began.
In cases where hospitality managers are able to cancel or adjust orders, the same issue occurs at the farm/factory end of the supply chain. One source claimed that “mountains of food, including eggs, milk and onions are going to waste” on farms, noting also how this releases high levels of methane gas, which is harmful to the atmosphere. Tesco declared that an enormous 48 tons of fresh food was left to rot during one week in July.
Furthermore, staff shortages in the food retail sector mean that businesses are often too under-resourced to optimally store and stock food. Food storage and stocking systems must adhere to a strict system so as to minimise waste. Meats and dairy products, for example, must be packed into refrigerators as soon as they arrive. As one expert from the Cranford School of Management states, “even if you have a fully staffed supermarket, if you have a warehouse or a production plant running at 50% of its capacity, you will have problems filling shelves with product”. With that in mind, empty supermarket shelves can be seen as doubly concerning symbols, not only for food shortages, but for the unseen food waste that comes with short-staffing.
3. Wasted food means wasted food miles, and wasted CO2
Food transported to closed venues in hospitality or understaffed supermarkets brings with it wasted food miles. Once again, it’s the short-notice nature of track-and-trace related closures which creates waste. Planned closures will create an overall reduction in food miles whilst closures due to the pingdemic cannot be foreseen, meaning that hospitality managers often cannot account for these changes whilst ordering supplies.
With food miles in the UK amassing 19 million tonnes of CO2 annually, the environmental cost of a wasteful food supply chain is not to be overlooked. Whilst the government responded to the pingdemic with emergency measures, allowing selected key workers such as delivery drivers to be released from isolation if vaccinated and tested, British Frozen Food Federation chief executive Richard Harrow points out how these measures failed to fix the food supply issue. He argues that “more workers may be freed up in some areas of the supply chain but not others, such as in supermarkets.” Having food lorries and logistical delivery teams staffed whilst shops are understaffed means that people still cannot access food which has travelled so far to reach them, thereby causing yet more wasted food miles.
4. Fear-based consumption creates waste
One key reason that the pingdemic has made headlines is anxiety around food shortages, fears made all the more legitimate following Brexit. People must deal with the possibility of supermarket and venue closures, empty shelves and the prospect of being told to self-isolate for 10 days at a moment's notice. Unfortunately, all of these concerns are triggers for panic-buying, a longstanding issue emergent with the pandemic.
The most recent chapter in Britain’s fight against COVID-19, the pingdemic, has seen yet another spike in fear-based consumption, with major food retailers such as Sainbsury’s calling for the public to shop moderately. The effects of overshopping on Britain’s waste production are quite alarming. Back in April 2020, panic-buying led to a 30% increase in household waste within a period of just two weeks, waste which requires carbon to make, transport and process. Over a year later, with over-shopping still a significant issue, we must once again remind ourselves that it comes at a major cost to our environment.
5. Disruption to recycling and other waste disposal services
Another sector heavily affected by track-and-trace is rubbish disposal. Many local services have been postponed or cancelled with households in Brighton, for example, waiting several weeks for rubbish collection. One resident stated: "I am on the ground floor and we couldn't even have our windows open due to the flies and smell, we saw rats numerous times.” This disruption to waste disposal is both a public health risk and an environmental risk, with another source stating that “recycling has been hit particularly hard and some collection rounds are having to be stood down or delayed.”
Much like the food supply chain, waste management and disposal is a complex system relying on constant staffing across a range of operations. As one spokesperson for Brighton council summises, “when rounds or street cleaning services are missed, it's then very hard to catch up without the correct number of staff." In order to prevent being overwhelmed by a backlog of rubbish or an overall collapse, recycling services must run continuously, a criteria that the pingdemic has made especially challenging.
If you’ve experienced the wasteful impacts of the pingdemic then we would love to hear from you.
To learn about how GridDuck can help your business to cut energy bills and carbon emissions, please head over to our website: gridduck.com or schedule a quick and informal chat with Miles.