Plastic resurgence

Were you concerned about all the extra plastic and discarded material from non-reusable PPE? You are not alone. Euronews reports:

It had all been going so well. Gone were the plastic straws, bottles were being made from recyclable glass again, many of us started buying reusable coffee cups and plastic bags had become thoroughly unfashionable. Those images of fish wrapped in difficult-to-disintegrate plastic and talk of microplastics getting into our diet genuinely seemed to have swayed the public mood. 

 How things have changed. From face masks and visors to gloves, almost every aspect of personal protective equipment is made from disposable plastic. According to Grand View Research, globally the disposable market for masks is expecting exponential growth; rising from an estimated 708 million euros last year to 147 billion euros this year. 

 Supermarkets have introduced plastic screens at check outs to protect staff, some fruit and vegetables are again being wrapped and we are shopping online so much more (which again means more wrapping, more plastic). In May alone some 2.5 billion customers are believed to have logged onto Amazon’s website. How many of us have ordered takeaways during lockdown? They're often stored in plastic containers with – yes, you’ve guessed it – plastic knives and forks and plastic pots for condiments too. 

 All of this is leading to a rising tide of plastic waste. Reports from rubbish collectors from Dublin to Athens suggest that plastic is taking up an increasing proportion of their weekly collections. Much of it is simply not recyclable, or won’t be recycled. Many plants were closed during lockdown and there are continuing concerns about the virus surviving on certain materials for many days. 

 Much of this plastic is simply ending up in landfill sites, but unlike the other rubbish it will take many more years to decompose. In fact, no one really knows how long it takes plastic to break down, but it is certainly measured in hundreds of years. Outside of Europe, rubbish is often left in open dumps, exposed to the elements. Some of it will end up in our oceans. 

 Plastic broken down by the salt and the sun ends up as microplastics, which are ingested by fish and shellfish and they are then, in turn, eaten by us. Plastic can often prove to be a killer of sea life too. Fish, turtles and whales can often choke on plastic bags or get tangled in plastic netting. 

 Things had been getting better, but the coronavirus looks set to change that. 

 For the past couple of decades, a concerted effort has been made to wean us off disposable plastic. A report last year by GlobalWebIndex showed that 53 percent of people surveyed in the US and UK had reduced their single-use plastic over the 12 preceding months. Yet, now plastic is our protector, it is literally helping to save lives. But will that immediate benefit be to the long-term detriment of our planet?