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The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a number of challenges to the global fight against plastic waste and pollution, as plastic masks, gloves, and other PPE soar in demand.How can short term needs of using plastic protective gear for healthcare workers be balanced against their long-term environmental impact on the planet?
The pollution problem has grown even though recycling workers try to tackle plastic waste and pollution, Kristin Hughes, director of the Global Plastic Action Partnership, said.
"What we've seen with COVID-19 is increased problem to that approach, because different national governments are also handling waste and plastic waste very differently. In Canada and United States, recycling is still being classified as an essential, but it's not universal across the broad," Hughes continued.
"For example, in Indonesia alone, we've seen 63,000 workers laid off in just the recycling industry. So indeed, the COVID-19 has brought with a significant impact to our efforts to mitigate plastic waste and pollution."
Photo via Global Plastic Action Partnership website
Waste collectors are also facing big challenges in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are working without any protective equipment even though they operate mainly outside in close contact with others.Adding on to that, the price of plastic materials for recycling has absolutely collapsed, said Hughes, with prices half of what they were pre-pandemic, making it even harder for these workers to make enough for survival.
"They [waste pickers] absolutely need and require urgent intervention to try to maintain a basic level of health, safety, and financial viability," Hughes said, adding the organization is seeking more ways to support them during the pandemic while many campaigns have been set up at the national level to collect donations and support the waste pickers.
With the increase of COVID-19 cases slowing down, and the crisis gradually coming under control, scientists, researchers are calling for a green recovery. And this will create more than millions of jobs and channel strategic investment into solutions that will reduce carbon emissions and benefit the society. Hughes believes the movement will boost economic growth while reducing plastic waste and pollution.
"Throughout the entire plastic value chain, everybody has a role to play. So governments in the creation of the right policies and enabling infrastructure as well as for investments is very important. Then we see consumer goods and packaging companies and how they can really live up to their commitments to embed more recycled content into their packaging," she said.
Hughes also urged companies to create new business models that are sustainable, and for consumers to shift their behaviors away from single use plastics, and instead think about when they can reuse, refill, recycle and reduce.
(Cover image via VCG)
