The pandemic generated waves of direct and indirect consequences. As the fight against it unfolded, many parameters of responsible behavior were affected. When under attack, our good habits gave way to expedient solutions in order to deal with the threat. In that context, evidence of the magnitude of what our pandemic response meant for the environment is starting to surface. Unprecedented global waste production levels now translate into an environmental wake-up call: while investing our best efforts in fighting the pandemic, we deeply impacted the planet and our historical efforts towards it.
Since the pandemic outbreak, it is estimated that an average of 3.4 billion units of protective masks were discarded worldwide on a daily basis. During that same period, 1.6 million tonnes of all kinds of plastic waste were also produced on a daily basis, which meant around 584 million tonnes for the full 2020 year. As a comparison, overall plastic production for the entire 1950 year was 1.5 million tonnes and an average of 348 million tonnes of new and recycled plastic were produced yearly prior to the pandemic.
Half of that overall plastic production usually becomes waste, which approximately represents a historical average of 175 million tonnes of plastic waste production, per year, on the planet. So, our plastic waste production in 2020 was more than three times the historical average because of the pandemic. And 2021 has not shown signs of a slowdown. As a result, waste management programs were globally overwhelmed. So much so that the plastic waste produced could not be fully managed and simply fueled an increase in global pollution in key environmental areas such as the oceans.
Furthermore, the pandemic impact was also felt upstream in the logistical chain as recycled plastic costs more than new plastic. With lower oil prices also induced by the pandemic crisis, the gap between new and recycled plastic widened. As all countries were struggling to secure the necessary equipment to fight the pandemic all while trying to keep cost down, the equation leading to expediency and lower cost meant that the environmental recycling dream took a hard hit. This does not necessarily mean that our collective will and efforts towards the environment cannot overcome such a massive impact but it certainly means that the pandemic has raised the bar even more so. We took a significant step back in our environmental journey. And this is just for plastic…
Production of all kinds of covid-related medical waste simply exploded during the pandemic. Lives were at stake. Clear and present danger meant that little attention was paid to the environmental impact during the initial covid-19 waves. There was simply no room or time to think about waste management or to adjust how we deal with it. But let me be clear here: my intent is not to attribute blame; the pandemic created a context in which anyone would be hard pressed to blame anyone else. We had to do what was required at the moment. This is what crisis management is all about: dealing with the situation, first and foremost. But in the emerging aftermath of the pandemic, we can now start to take stock of its full, less known impact.
However, this impact is not all negative. Positive, environmentally-friendly, direct consequences are also being analyzed such as reduced gas emissions. Let’s hope the positive outcomes can be maintained as regular life resumes. But the negative impact is a tougher challenge to overcome as it drove our societies away from environmental goals and exacerbated the degradation of the environment.
It is clear that the significant increase in waste production due to the pandemic has generated environmental issues and waste management challenges. Inasmuch as we can safely say that it was difficult to do otherwise given the circumstances, we are still left with this additional problem to resolve. As the world will work on it, it may be a great opportunity to dig deeper into what the healthcare industry means, in general, for the environment. Wouldn’t you agree? Healthcare is a very significant producer of all kinds of waste. Do we really know what happens to that waste? Do we have adequate programs to deal with it? Let me know what you think @ blogbenoitmorin@gmail.com. These are very interesting questions to further explore in future articles…
In the meantime, may you be well, may you be happy.
B.