COVID-19 Waste Is Killing Animals
The Claim
Since the beginning of the pandemic, careless disposal of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been harmful to animals worldwide.
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Emerging story
In 2020, personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks and plastic gloves were produced at higher rates than ever before. For instance, in February, 2020, China alone increased its face mask production capacity by 450%. These increases led many to worry that PPE disposal would be significantly harmful to wildlife.
Misbar’s Analysis
On March 22, researchers from several Dutch universities and institutions published their findings on the effects of PPE-related waste on animals. The report concluded that COVID-19 litter is a new threat to animal life. “The PPE products that are designed to keep us safe are actually harming animals around us,” it said.
The report states that the first animal it could locate that died of coronavirus waste was an American robin which got tangled in a face mask in British Columbia on April 10th, 2020. In Europe, it notes the death of a perch that became trapped in a latex glove in the city of Leiden, Holland, on August 2nd, 2020 and a crab that died in Lake Etang de Derre, France on September 23rd, 2020. In South America, a dead penguin whose stomach contained a face mask was discovered in Sao Sebastiao, Brazil on September 11th, 2020. In all, the researchers list 28 different instances of animals interacting with coronavirus related PPE. The researchers also note that the number of cases will be significantly higher than the examples that they have found, and that “we expect that more examples of interactions between animals and PPE litter can be found from sources in other languages.”
It further adds that all of the reported findings of entrapment, ingestion, and entanglement of PPE involved single use products, and claim that switching to reusables would result in a 95% reduction of plastic waste.
The researchers have also published an interactive website that collects documentation of the effects of coronavirus litter on wildlife from contributors around the world.
