Activists worry that all those coronavirus masks, medical kits, takeout containers and grocery bags are setting back a global fight to curb single-use plastic.
When he stepped onto a beach on Hong Kong’s uninhabited Soko Islands, Gary Stokes was surprised to find — amid the discarded water bottles, shopping bags and usual piles of plastic waste — a new type of garbage washing ashore.On that overcast morning in late February, just weeks after Hong Kong had recorded its first coronavirus case, the environmental activist collected more than 70 discarded masks from a beach slightly longer than a football field.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought a dramatic increase in the use of plastic, the main component in masks, gloves, hand sanitizer bottles, protective medical suits, test kits, takeout containers, delivery packaging and other items central to our new, locked-down, hyper-hygienic way of life.The disposal of such items is yet another troubling consequence of a crisis that has devastated economies and wracked healthcare systems.
The deeper worry is that COVID-19 will reverse the momentum of a years-long global battle to cut down on single-use plastic.“I understand people are afraid because they don’t know what’s going on with this virus, but it’s just a major setback” for environmental protection, said Stokes, cofounder ofAdvertisement
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