EFFECT OF COVID-19 ON ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY
EFFECT OF COVID-19 ON ENVIRONMENT.. Global shelter-in-place orders to battle the Covid-19 pandemichave resulted in a widely-reported climate benefit: cleaner air in China and Europe. But the fallout from the global health crisishasn’t been uniformly positive for the environment. In the U.S., some cities have halted recycling programs asofficials worry about the risk of spreading the virus in recycling centers. In particularly hard-hit European nations, wastedisposal options have been rolled back. Italy has bannedinfected residents from sorting their waste at all. Industry has seized the opportunity to overturn disposable bagbans, despite the fact that environmental experts say single-useplastics can still harbor viruses and bacteria.Businesses that once encouraged consumers to bring their ownbags or containers have increasingly switched to single-usepackaging. In early March, Starbucks announced a temporary ban on using reusable cups. • UN URGES PLA