Remember when you didn't know how to wear a face mask?
You'd never smelt hand sanitiser.
Urgh!
And shoving a swab up your nose
and wiggling it around until your eyes watered was...
Wait, what?
It's going to be a thing in, like, a year.
So, just trust me. Hold still. Wait.
Just give me a minute.
Yeah, things have definitely changed a lot since COVID.
People all across the world have found themselves in need
of things they probably didn't think they'd ever need, or need so much of,
or even want, to be honest,
like disposable masks, face shields,
nasal swabs, plastic gloves,
bottles of hand sanitiser,
takeaway food containers
and bubble wrap.
Oh, you know, for all the extra online shopping.
And while a lot of this extra stuff is being used to keep people safe
and separated, it's making a ton of extra waste.
Well, about 1.6 million tons, actually.
That's how much plastic waste has been made every day
since the pandemic started.
That's like 10,000 blue whales
or 1.2 million teams of BTN reporters.
Um...not quite sure that put things into perspective,
but you get the idea.
It's a lot.
In fact, when it comes to something like disposable masks,
around 129 billion are chucked into landfill every month.
That's, like...
Well, that's just like 129 billion masks.
Hm. And plastic takes a long time to break down, like 450 years long.
And when stuff isn't chucked out properly,
it can end up where it shouldn't.
(BIRDS CAW)
Hospitals in particular are creating a huge amount of waste.
The WHO says discarded syringes, test kits, old vaccine bottles
and personal protective equipment are creating big problems,
especially in developing countries,
where getting rid of waste is already tricky.
But if you're thinking,
"Can't we just make all of this COVID-y stuff recyclable?" -
well, unfortunately, it's not always that simple.
For example, these rapid antigen tests.
It's nice to think that the plastic parts could be recycled.
The sad truth is that they will be contaminated
with biological wastes from your nose or your mouth.
So, really, in that sense, they can't be.
You should really put it into a Ziploc bag,
and you should put the waste into your household waste,
not into the recycling bin.
Just the cardboard packaging and the paper leaflet,
for example, can be.
There's also the issue of reusable face masks.
While they're fine in some situations and definitely better than nothing,
experts say N95 masks are best.
But - you guessed it - they're disposable.
Environmental organisations say, sadly, for now,
we just have to put up with the extra waste to keep us safe.
Have to make sure that we take care of our community and make sure
that they are safe.
So, this is something that, unfortunately, right now,
we just have to be... it has to happen.
But wait - we can try to make up for our waste in other ways, like...
..we can snip the straps off our masks
before putting them in the bin.
So, if they end up where they shouldn't,
they won't trap animals.
Keep cutting down on plastic packaging
and reducing our food waste.
There are also companies working
on more eco-friendly COVID essentials,
like biodegradable masks.
And hopefully, in the not-too-distant future,
these things that used to not be a thing
will not be a thing again.
And that will be a good thing.