An Uncertain Future: The Environmental Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Between 25 February and 18 April 2020, over a billion items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were distributed across the UK. This figure includes 875 million PPE items purchased by the NHS in England, as well as additional elements, such as body bags, cleaning essentials, and clinical swabs.[1] This equates to millions of single-use gloves, masks, and overalls being used and then discarded every day in the UK alone, and in this ongoing pandemic there has been little mention of the long-term environmental implications of such disposal.
Production of PPE has expanded in an attempt to meet skyrocketing demand, while the disposal of PPE has also drastically increased. A report released by the Hong Kong marine conservation organisation OceansAsia estimated that 1.56 billion face masks will result in an additional 4,680 to 6,240 metric tonnes of marine plastic pollution having entered our oceans by the end of 2020, albeit a small ‘fraction’ of the roughly 8 to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic that saturate our oceans yearly.[2] Waterlogged masks, gloves, hand sanitiser bottles, and other COVID-19-related items are being discovered en masse in our oceans, resulting in Laurent Lombard of Opération Mer Propre stating that ‘[t]here risks being more masks than jellyfish.’[3]
This is an unprecedented global problem. In February 2020, OceansAsia flagged that a growing number of masks had been discovered during its plastic pollution research, including vast quantities on the Soko Islands off the coast of Hong Kong.[4] The Marine Conservation Society’s annual beach clean, which took place in early November 2020, found PPE items on 30% of the areas they surveyed.[5]
According to a recent article in The Guardian, the five most common types of litter found on UK beaches are as follows:
1. Plastic or polystyrene pieces – 167.2 discovered per 100 metres of beach.
2. Plastic or polystyrene lids – 19.7 per 100 metres of beach.
3. Wet wipes – 17.7 per 100 metres of beach.
4. Cigarettes – 16.2 per 100 metres of beach.
5. Plastic string – 15.8 per 100 metres of beach.[6]
PPE was also discovered by volunteers in 69% of ‘inland litter’ surveys.[7] Despite a succession of mandatory lockdowns and the normalisation of working from home in the UK, plastic consumption has increased significantly and littering in public places continues unabated.[8] This is a concerning phenomenon, particularly considering that mask-wearing was only made mandatory in shops in England and Scotland in late July 2020,[9] little more than 3 months before the Great British Beach Clean. This sharp increase in PPE-related litter accumulation in such a short period of time suggests an increasingly uncertain environmental future.
Along with the widening education poverty gap[10] and current mental health crisis,[11] the environmental implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have been tentatively documented. There have been significant decreases in carbon emissions following each lockdown, since fewer people are travelling and there is less industrial activity; however, the quarantine economy has resulted in an online shopping boom causing greater packaging waste from deliveries and take-away food containers. In addition, the pandemic has diverted global attention away from green issues, with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), which was intended to be held in Glasgow in November 2020, being postponed until 2021.
Marine plastic pollution devastates our oceans, killing an estimated 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, over a million seabirds, and even greater numbers of fish each year.[12] It also negatively impacts fisheries and the maritime tourism industry, costing the global economy an estimated £10 million per year.[13] In a twisted irony, the masks, gloves, disinfectant wipes, and other PPE items that have been developed to help save lives are also polluting the environment, resulting in a long-term loss of animal and, indirectly, of human life. It is also noteworthy that most synthetic materials have the potential to introduce chemicals into the environment, highlighting the broader risks of discarding masks and gloves. While the pandemic is ongoing, an effective deposit return scheme would take the UK one step closer to a circular economy model[14] and drastically reduce the volume of single-use pollution in the UK’s streets, parks, and coastlines. From an environmental perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for all of us as we enter an increasingly uncertain future.
Article tags: | -ism | COVID-19 | environmentalism |
Along with the widening education poverty gap and current mental health crisis, the environmental implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have been tentatively documented. There have been significant decreases in carbon emissions following each lockdown, since fewer people are travelling and there is less industrial activity; however, the quarantine economy has resulted in an online shopping boom causing greater packaging waste from deliveries and take-away food containers. Image source: AP / Matt Dunham
While the pandemic is ongoing, an effective deposit return scheme would take the UK one step closer to a circular economy model and drastically reduce the volume of single-use pollution in the UK’s streets, parks, and coastlines. From an environmental perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic should be a wake-up call for all of us as we enter an increasingly uncertain future. Image source: trekandphoto
In a twisted irony, the masks, gloves, disinfectant wipes, and other PPE items that have been developed to help save lives are also polluting the environment, resulting in a long-term loss of animal and, indirectly, of human life. Image source: Science|Business
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Sources Cited
[1] Faisal Islam, ‘Why a Billion Items of PPE is Not Enough’ (BBC, 20 April 2020) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52362707> accessed 10 January 2021.
[2] Teale Phelps Bondaroff and Sam Cooke, 'Masks on the Beach: The Impact of COVID-19 on Marine Plastic Pollution' (2020) OceansAsia <https://oceansasia.org/covid-19-facemasks/> accessed 10 January 2021.
[3] ‘Fact Check: Is PPE Causing an Environmental Pandemic?’ (The Week, 12 June 2020) <https://www.theweek.co.uk/107241/ppe-environmental-pandemic-fact-check> accessed 10 January 2021.
[4] ‘No Shortage of Surgical Masks at the Beach’ (OceansAsia, 28 February 2020) <https://oceansasia.org/beach-mask-coronavirus/> accessed 11 January 2021.
[5] Elly Roberts, 'PPE Found on Third of UK Beaches in the Marine Conservation Society's Annual Great British Beach Clean' (Swindon Advertiser, 9 November 2020) <https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/18856615.ppe-found-third-uk-beaches-marine-conservation-societys-annual-great-british-beach-clean/#:~:text=The%20Marine%20Conservation%20Society%27s%20annual%20beach%20clean%20found%20discarded%20masks,found%20for%20the%20first%20time> accessed 11 January 2021.
[6] Sandra Laville, 'Face Masks and Gloves Found on 30% of UK Beaches in Clean-Up' (The Guardian, 6 November 2020) <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/06/face-masks-and-gloves-found-on-30-of-uk-beaches-in-clean-up> accessed 10 January 2021.
[7] ibid.
[8] Tanveer M Adyel, 'Accumulation of Plastic Waste During COVID-19' (2020) 369(6509) Science <https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6509/1314> accessed 11 January 2021.
[9] Peter Blackburn, 'Government Makes Wearing Face Masks Mandatory' (BMA, 14 July 2020) <https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/government-makes-wearing-face-masks-mandatory> accessed 10 January 2021.
[10] Richard Adams, 'Gap Between Rich and Poor Pupils in England 'Grows by 46% in a Year' (The Guardian, 1 September 2020) <https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/01/disadvantaged-and-bame-pupils-lost-more-learning-study-finds> accessed 11 January 2021.
[11] Rheale, 'Is a Crisis in Mental Health the Next Pandemic?' (Blog | Evidence-Based Nursing, 4 October 2020) <https://blogs.bmj.com/ebn/2020/10/04/is-a-crisis-in-mental-health-the-next-pandemic/> accessed 11 January 2021.
[12] 'Plastic Pollution - Facts and Figures' (Surfers Against Sewage) <https://www.sas.org.uk/our-work/plastic-pollution/plastic-pollution-facts-figures/> accessed 12 January 2021.
[13] SE Nelms and others, 'Marine Anthropogenic Litter on British Beaches: A 10-Year Nationwide Assessment Using Citizen Science Data' (2017) 579 Science of The Total Environment <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.137> accessed 10 January 2021.
[14] Rick Hindley, 'Designing a “World-Leading” Deposit Return Scheme' (Circular, 22 October 2020) <https://www.circularonline.co.uk/opinions/designing-a-world-leading-deposit-return-scheme/> accessed 12 January 2021.