As we endure the clutches of the health pandemic that is Covid-19, repercussions of the viral pandemic has begun to present on the world’s oceans. The necessary PPE, that is touted as one of our biggest allies in combatting the spread of the virus, is proving to have detrimental side effects on ocean conservation – discarded single use PPE items such as masks, gloves and plastic sanitizer bottles are now finding its way into our oceans and becoming a threat to marine life and contributing to the systemic issue of plastic pollution.
Fema recently reported delivery of over 300 million PPE items within the United States alone, putting large amounts of added plastic into circulation. Whilst there is no getting around our need for the life-saving equipment, we can offset our impact by creating more sustainable ways to dispose and discard unused equipment.