In this last year, we have learned many lessons from the pandemic, one of which is the importance of maintaining our personal health. However, many have failed to recognize and shed more light on the importance of maintaining the health of the environment as well.
The coronavirus pandemic has not only changed our state of life, but the state of the Earth at an environmental level, resulting in a mix of both positive and negative changes. For example, with fewer people on the roads, there has been an improvement in air quality. However, more safety guidelines mean an increase in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and therefore an increase in waste.
To ensure our own safety and the safety of others, we had to increase our consumption of single-use plastics, such as plastic gloves and take-out containers, utensils, and restaurant bags. While this is a good way to decrease the potential transmission of COVID-19 and is the result of stricter safety regulations, this has led us to use wasteful products on a daily basis.
Healthcare workers, also seeing an increase in hospital patients, have been needing to wear more PPE, contributing to the increasing plastic pollution and waste that 2020 has seen. However, while we cannot control our Wearing PPE until the pandemic subsides, we can control other aspects of our daily lives that also contribute to increased pollution.
To offset this growth in our daily use of disposable PPE products, try eliminating unnecessary products like plastic straws and single-use plastic water bottles. Instead, buy a reusable metal straw or simply opt out of using a straw when shopping for your third Starbucks of the day. You can eliminate even more waste by purchasing a reusable water bottle.
Anyway, you are at home most of the time, so walking a few meters to refill the water should not be such a difficult task. But, if reusable bottles aren't for you or you just don't have access to one, then try to remember to recycle all the water bottles and recyclables you use. Either way, you can reduce your carbon footprint and take a step towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
When you recycle, your waste is used in a greener and more sustainable way. For example, according to Repreve data, if everyone in the US recycled a plastic bottle, more than 54 million T-shirts could be made from those recycled materials.
By recycling, you are helping to keep the Earth clean by minimizing waste and maintaining a more circular economy by keeping these materials flowing in a continuous cycle as they are reused after use.
It is important to remember that responsible waste disposal does not only apply to recyclable products. This includes any type of waste, including disposable gloves and masks, that I have continually seen dumped on the street.
If disposing of waste is a difficult task for you, then instead of looking for disposable PPE, try buying reusable masks and gloves, which are just as hygienic as disposable ones, but you still have to remember to wash and change them after every few uses.
If everyone wears one disposable mask per day, this could result in a monthly global consumption and a waste of 129 billion face masks, according to the journal Science.
We cannot control the state of the pandemic, therefore it is imperative that we take control over what we can, and that is the environmental state of the Earth. Remember to responsibly recycle and dispose of your waste, live ethically and sustainably, and think of Mother Nature every time you buy and use a new product.
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