A deluge of trash from takeaway containers and disposable cutlery is clogging the streets and parks of Hong Kong as coronavirus restrictions on dining in restaurants eat away at the city's capacity to dispose of its garbage.
The dining restrictions in the China-ruled Asian financial hub ban eating in any outlet after 6 p.m. At other times in the day, restaurants can only operate at half-capacity and with two people per table.
As a result, plastic from eating out has doubled from last year since takeaway food is the only option for many people who do not cook at home. Hundreds of thousands of people in the crowded city live in compact apartments with tiny or nonexistent kitchens.