How Cities are Trying to Solve the PPE Waste Issue

Cities around the world have already spent the last two years focusing on controlling the spread of COVID-19. Now, cities are starting to also focus on a different aspect of the pandemic – how to deal with waste generated by personal protective equipment (PPE). Cities and municipalities across the globe have found that the most common types of PPE waste include discarded surgical masks and plastic gloves. Single-use equipment designed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 are turning up in rivers, blowing across streets, and will inevitably wreak havoc on natural ecosystems. To put the problem into scope, joint researchers in Nanjing, China and La Jolla, California recently calculated that waste generated from the pandemic has surmounted to over 8 million tons across 193 countries. And to worsen the news, the advocacy group OceansAsia has warned that potentially 1.5 billion face masks could end up in the marine ecosystem in just one year. The task at hand for the regional and local governments: fix the PPE waste problem!

In order to fix the problem of waste generated specifically due to the pandemic, some cities have come up with an interesting solution: trash surveys. Trash surveys aim to serve as a tool for researchers and local governments to gauge the scale of the trash problem, in addition to helping them find the main sources of the waste production. 

Some cities, like London, have taken a different approach and have decided to create trash clean up initiatives. For example, Thames21, an environmental group in London, has created volunteer projects to both clean up and count the trash in the river Thames. 

Another trash-tackling method implemented in cities across the globe is anti-litter campaigns. Cities such as Coquimbo, Chile and Houston, Texas have both adopted anti-littering messaging and laws as it pertains to COVID-19. The campaigns are focused on getting people to dispose of their PPE correctly and minimize the risk that the PPE will end up in waterways. For example, certain beaches in Coquimbo now have special waste bins designed specifically for PPE that help reduce the likelihood of wind blowing the PPE into the ocean. 

Lastly, recycling efforts have sparked up around many cities as a potential solution to the waste problem. These efforts have tried to repurpose the waste generated from PPE and create more eco-friendly solutions. For example, La Paz, Bolivia has started a campaign to collect PPE waste and pack them into “eco-bricks.” Eco-bricks are plastic bottles that are tightly packed with trash that will never decompose. Eco-bricks are then used to fortify housing and buildings – acting as a sort of makeshift rebar to reinforce concrete, cement, or clay structures. 

All of these serve as great examples of the ways in which cities have tackled the overproduction of PPE waste due to the pandemic. What are some challenges and benefits you predict could occur in applying these solutions widespread in the international community? (Feel free to discuss the blogpost, article, or the last question in the comment's section)

*This blogpost was summarized from the article below, please take a look if you’re interested

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/climate/ppe-coronavirus-waste.html

Happy researching!

Best regards,

Justin Flesher

BVC Vice Chair, BMUN LXX