Initially, stories of the pandemics’ environmental impact spoke about pollution-free blue skies, reduced carbon emissions, and articles about “Nature healing”. But as lockdowns across the globe began to ease, one factor began to emerge: the incredible increase of the use of plastic.
A new pandemic is on the rise: Single-use Plastic
While we all try our best to avoid cross-contamination and stay out of contact with others, this has given rise to a problem we spent years trying to fix; single-use plastics. From plastic cutlery, cups, containers, low-micron count carry bags, and garbage bags, the street corners of cities are seeing an increasing pile of medical-grade plastic waste such as masks, glove, PPE kits, and sanitizer bottles.
The lockdown has also caused an increase in disposable plastic packaged deliveries. This crisis looks to stay around for longer than expected. Due to this virus, one study shows that in Thailand alone, a country which banned plastic bags in major stores now expects to see a rise of 30%.
States and cities suspending plastic bans
The world has spent years trying to implement laws to reduce the consumption and usage of plastic. But in recent months, states and cities across the world have been suspending their plastic bans. State governments in Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala among others are relaxing their own restrictions to ban plastic with fewer than 50-microns. Numerous states in America like San Francisco, which was the first city to introduce a bag ban way back in 2007, told its residents not to bring reusable bags to grocery stores.
Time to counter two crisis’ at once
Don’t get us wrong, we must definitely do all that we can to stir this pandemic away by staying sanitized, social distancing, and coming in as little contact with each other as possible. But we must keep in mind the catastrophic repercussions of these measures. The use of plastic has been damaging the environment for more than 100 years. As we started to see the light of a plastic-free future, we were struck by a virus that made the use of plastic a necessity.
The least we can do in this situation is be vary in our usage and cognisant of the repercussions. We must promise that when things return to normal, we switch to high gear and rid this planet of plastic immediately. Join us as we take steps towards living more sustainably, not just for ourselves, but for the planet too.