This year’s coronavirus pandemic saw dips in noise pollution in various parts of the world as well as the decreased in human activities creating a more conducive environment for the sea turtles’ return in Florida. However, this global health pandemic drove plastic pollution to a record high with an exponential increase in the use of disposable masks and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Single-Use Plastic
“With a lifespan of 450 years, these masks are an ecological timebomb given their lasting environmental consequences for our planet” — Éric Pauget, a French politician wrote
Plastic is persistent and ubiquitous on a global scale that authors have coined this “The Plasticene” era (Reed, 2015). Since the outbreak, there has been a global increase in the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the healthcare sector and the single-use disposable plastic items in restaurants and other business outlets.
This is evident in the graph above. There was an increase in litter and an even greater spike in May. This coincided with the softening of lockdown measures when people were allowed to move freely (Canning-Clode et al., 2020).
With no clear guidelines for proper waste management and disposable, we often see gloves, masks, PPE, etc being washed up on our beaches, coastlines, and rivers. For instance, in the uninhabited Soko Islands in Hong Kong, about 100 masks were reportedly found on its beach (Kassam, 2020). Take a look at the video linked below to find out more about the devastating extent of disposable masks.
Cheers,
Shee Wen & Nicole 
References
Canning-Clode, J., Sepúlveda, P., Almeida, S. & Monteiro, J. (2020), “Will COVID-19 Containment and Treatment Measures Drive Shifts in Marine Litter Pollution?”, Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 7.
Fazio, M. (2020). The New York Times. Your Used Mask Needs to Make It to the Trash Can. Retrieved November 3, 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/25/climate/covid-masks-discarded.html
Kassam, A. (2020). The Guardian. ‘More masks than jellyfish’: coronavirus waste ends up in Ocean. Retrieved November 3, 2020 from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/08/more-masks-than-jellyfish-coronavirus-waste-ends-up-in-ocean
Reed, C. (2015), “Dawn of the Plasticene age”, New scientist (1971), [Online], vol. 225, no. 3006, pp. 28-32.