Abstract

This poster details my research on the intersections between the COVID 19 pandemic and the ever-growing plastic crisis. Research for this project focused largely on secondary research sources such as scholarly journal articles discussing the environmental impact of the COVID 19 pandemic. I found that the pandemic response has had huge indirect affects on the health of the environment. I chose to focus primarily on the increase in demand for single use plastics and the dangers presented by the lack of proper disposal methods and knowledge of personal protective equipment available to the general public.

Results Cont.

Masks are meant to catch the droplets and hold them. Just throwing these in with the regular trash leads to the possibility of spreading the virus, whether to the workers who collect and or sort our trash, or if the masks end up as litter, then potentially to those who end up picking it up.

Introduction

My project focused on the question: what are the potential impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic on potentially pre-existing environmental issues in the San Francisco Bay area? Our area is focusing on developing a new normal as there is currently no end in sight for this pandemic, and that means we as a society need to evaluate our response patterns. However we are choosing to react to the pandemic will not be a short-term stop-gap, and for many people that means re-evaluating their relationship with single-use plastics.

Results

Plastic waste is a growing issue. It takes years to break down, and it adding to our pollution on a daily basis both with it’s creation and it’s end-of-life cycle. Micro plastics are starting to show up in the bodies of both animals and humans. Single-use plastics made up about 40% of plastic production as of 2019 with only about 12% of those items being recycled (Silva et al.).

Demand for single use plastics has increased with the COVID 19 pandemic. Many personal protective equipment items are made from plastics. There is little to no discussion or information available to the public on the correct handling and disposal of these items.

In the article “Rethinking and Optimizing Plastic Waste Management Under COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Solutions Based on Redesign and Reduction of Single-Use Plastics and Personal Protective Equipment” published in The Total Science of the Environment, I discovered that we should only be using surgical masks for a few hours before placing them in sealed baggies to be tossed out (Silva et al.). As an essential worker, I see many people wearing the same mask all day then just tossing them in with the rest of the trash.

Conclusions

My research has shown that while we should engage with the continuing research being done in connection with this pandemic there are a few steps we can already take. The first is to return to a mindset of plastic reduction in our daily lives, especially single-use plastic. The second is to advocate for other environmental solutions to help offset the environmental impact of the pandemic such as the idea of reforestation I came across in the article “COVID-19 Outbreak: Migration, Effects on Society, Global Environment and Prevention” (Chakraborty et al.).

Methods

Methodology

Primary Research Questions

Research

Primary Sources

• Interview with Cris Tulloch

Secondary Sources

• “COVID-19 Outbreak: Migration, Effects on Society, Global Environment and Prevention.”
• “Rethinking and Optimising Plastic Waste Management Under COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Solutions Based on Redesign and Reduction of Single-Use Plastics and Personal Protective Equipment.”
• “COVID-19 Pandemic Repercussions on the Use and Management of Plastics.”

“Over 7 trillion microplastic pieces enter the North Pacific Ocean through San Francisco Bay every year (the 5Gyres, 2019), and an estimated annual contribution of 1.2–2.4 million Mt of plastic waste enter marine systems via rivers (Lebreton et al.,2017). (Silva et al.)”

References

Chakraborty, Indranil, and Prasenjit Maity. “COVID-19 Outbreak: Migration, Effects on Society, Global Environment and Prevention.” The Science of the Total Environment, vol. 728, Elsevier Science, Aug. 2020, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138882.

Patrício Silva, Ana L., et al. “Rethinking and Optimising Plastic Waste Management Under COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Solutions Based on Redesign and Reduction of Single-Use Plastics and Personal Protective Equipment.” The Science of the Total Environment, vol. 742, Elsevier Science, Nov. 2020, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140565.

Prata, Joana C., Silva, Ana L.P., Walker, Tony R., Duarte, Armando C. , and Rocha-Santos, Teresa. “COVID-19 Pandemic Repercussions on the Use and Management of Plastics.” Environmental Science & Technology 2020 54 (13), 7760-7765
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.0c02178