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The Corona pandemic has led to a significant increase in waste generation worldwide. Plastic packaging in particular has increased as a result of the epidemic. Most originate from Asia.
Contact restrictions in the Corona pandemic have caused the global volume of packaging waste to rise sharply. According to one estimate, the pandemic has generated about 8.4 million more tons of plastic waste than usual in 193 countries through August, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences write in the Proceedings of the U.S. Academy of Sciences (PNAS). By comparison, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), humanity produces a total of about 300 million tons of plastic waste a year.The team led by scientists Yiming Peng and Peipei Wu now believes that much of the Corona waste (about 87.4 percent) originated in hospitals, particularly in Asian countries. Masks and other protective equipment for private use accounted for 7.6 percent, according to a study released by the researchers on Monday. Packaging for booming online retail accounted for about 4.7 percent of the additional waste, they said.
Nearly half comes from Asia
The pandemic has led to increased demand for single-use plastic, adding pressure to “this already out-of-control problem,” the researchers write. Much of this packaging has ended up in the world’s oceans, estimated to be more than 25,000 tons. Within three to four years, a large proportion of this waste will either wash up on beaches or sink to the bottom of the ocean, they say. Plastic waste is particularly harmful to marine life. The researchers called for better management of medical waste, especially in developing countries.
The main source of the waste is not private individuals, but hospitals. “When we started doing the calculations, we were surprised to find that the amount of waste from medical facilities was much larger than that from individuals,” co-author Amina Schartup of the University of California is quoted as saying. For example, the research team found that nearly 90 percent of pandemic plastic waste came from hospitals.
As a result, the amount of waste is greatest not where the most patients were treated, but where there is a lack of waste management. Nearly half of the waste comes from Asian countries such as India and China, and just under a quarter each from Europe and the Americas. Of the roughly 25,000 metric tons of plastic waste that has washed into the oceans so far, three-quarters probably comes from Asian rivers such as the Shatt al-Arab, Indus and Yangtze, which flow into the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and East China Sea. European rivers account for just over one-tenth of the discharges.
— source: tagesschau.de/picture:pixabay.com
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