The pandemic has reshaped the way we live through our daily lives. As the virus can spread through surface touch, it had been deemed important to lower the amount of contact among people with the use of plastic. This happens specifically within the food industry setting.

The usual coffee shops who formerly accepted the use of tumblers, did not accept them until a certain point in time where they found better alternatives. People who wanted to use tumblers to buy their coffee had to help the barista uncap their tumbler lid. Then the barista would cover a casava plastic bag around the tumbler, where this is also done to lessen the amount of surface contact among people. It is interesting that the shop would choose to use casava plastic bag, which is deemed as environmental safety as they plastic would dissolve in hot water.

Different stores have different standards of how they operate things. In another store, they would have the option of coffee being served in a usual glass container had the people dined in before the pandemic. However, as to lower the surface contact among people, these reusable cups would be changed all together during this pandemic for the option in using single use plastic cups. The scene in the cafe then becomes somewhat funny when dining in, as the coffee would be drunk out of a plastic cup yet their pastry is served upon a usual plate that is reusable.

The things happening in real life, often times than not requires a trade-off. It means that to solve a solution, it will have to sacrifice something. This does not happen all the time. In the case during the pandemic, stores and shops have opted to swap reusable glasses for plastic in order to reduce the surface contact among people. The reduction of surface contact is important during the pandemic, as to ensure that people do not accidentally contract the corona virus even though it was at the price of producing more plastics.