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So 20. Dez 2020, 12:01
Conservationists warn that COVID waste could lead to More 'm
Cannes or St. Tropez on the coast of France's Côte d'Azur. It is slotxoone of the most popular vacation rentals in the world. But now the coronavirus outbreak is causing a lot of pollution from masks and gloves that have been dropped into the ocean.
Laurent Lombard, a scuba diver and founder of the non-profit Opération Mer Propre (Operation Clean Sea), sent a warning about the discovery of safety equipment, PPE, and hand sanitizer while cleaning the ocean. And sent the pictures they recorded to CNN.
Lombard warned on Facebook that "soon in the Mediterranean there may be more masks than jellyfish".
Julie Hellec, spokesman for Opération Mer Propre, told CNN that it marks the first time in 15 years of diving Lombard has seen this disposable safety device float in the Mediterranean. And that we have to find a solution in this matter seriously
Hellec estimates that all the disposable items have been thrown in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Less than 5% of the total marine debris collected by the Opération Mer Propre is collected during the cleaning of the sea. But the organization is concerned that it may increase in volume rapidly. Because this is only the beginning
The Opération Mer Propre wants to raise awareness that people avoid littering, which is essential to keeping the ocean clean.
Hellec added that the use of reusable gloves and masks. And never using a single-use device may fix this problem.
However, beaches in France are not the only places where COVID-19 has been found. At the end of February, OceansAsia, a Hong Kong-based organization. Several masks were reportedly blown off the coast in the Sogo Islands.
The use of masks to reduce the spread of germs was a culture in Asia long before the epidemic of COVID-19, but OceansAsia noticed a clear difference. In other words, when 7 million people use one to two masks a day, the amount of waste will certainly increase.
The production of PPEs or single-use safety devices has increased significantly during the pandemic. The study, published recently in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, estimates 129 billion masks are used per month and 65 billion gloves per month.
Nick Mallos, senior executive at Ocean Conservancy nonprofit organization, told CNN that in many places around the world there is no basic waste management arrangement to handle the amount of waste. So they end up on beaches and in the ocean. And that even in the US, EU, and elsewhere around the world have very good waste disposal systems. We still see protective equipment for safety. Being littered by roads and flowing into waterways
Mallos said that if masks and gloves ended up in the ocean, animals such as seabirds and sea turtles could be entangled in them. Or swallowed it
Mallos stressed that it is important to adhere to public health guidelines on the use of PPE materials. At the same time, reduce the use of plastic products. To use alternative products that are safe and suitable And that we should be serious about reducing our use of single-use plastics. And there should be an appropriate system for the management of waste caused by life-saving materials such as personal protective equipment.
A World Economic Forum study reports that humans generate around 8 million tons of plastic waste a year, which eventually enters the sea. And this figure is in the days before COVID-19 Will even spread