Re-calibrate ‘Single Use Plastic Ban’ amidst COVID era

With the onset of the pandemic and recurrent lockdowns globally the year 2020 has left its own mark.  Though the earth had an opportunity to heal itself nevertheless it has presented a huge challenge before us i.e. re-emergence of plastic pollution debate. 

Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans. There may now be around 5.25 trillion macro and microplastic pieces floating in the open ocean. UNICEF estimates that by the end of the year, we need 2.2 billion surgical masks, 1.1 billion gloves, 13 million goggles, and 8.8 million face shields along with Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs). It’s not been long since we celebrated June 8th as World Oceans Day giving us a reminder about the importance of oceans' role in our everyday life. With the waste generated and disposed harming the biodiversity and marine ecosystem, the health of the oceans is fraught in distress, wreaking havoc on the delicate marine ecology. Pandemic has cast its spell on economy, lives and livelihoods of people and measures are taken towards its revival. ‘But, are we combating the menace of single use plastic pollution?

The masks made of polymers take over 350 years to decompose and such waste can get washed down, especially during monsoon and break down into tiny pieces called micro-plastics. Upsurge of plastics has raised opportunities for plastic companies but has subsided our efforts towards our national priorities like Single-Use Plastic Ban and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Our efforts to meet the 2022 deadline of phasing out Single-use plastics should not go in vain. Shouldn’t we do something to minimize waste and reduce its effect on public health and marine ecosystems as well?

United Nations has already called on countries to treat waste management as “urgent and essential” to combat Covid-19 and prevent knock-on effects on public health and the environment. Doctors in Nebraska are sanitizing surgical masks with ultraviolet light for reuse while Ford is making medical gowns from airbags to be reused upto 50 times. This is indeed a good beginning. It’s time we encourage a circular-wise approach with focus on recycle, re-use, regenerate, and reduce etc. to minimize the increasing trash. Reusable eco-friendly cloth masks by common public can also be seen as viable. Anticipating an increased use of plastics, can policymakers and countries foster a coordinated governance strategy towards a more holistic view of the cause-effect pathways, evaluate socio-economic environmental consequences, strengthen awareness and share knowledge to rethink a responsible production-consumption model of plastic management?