Covid19 – a plastic waste time bomb

What are the side effects of the Coronavirus on ocean's plastic pollution?

As it may seem familiar, the COVID-19 pandemic has had temporary positive effects on air pollution. Unfortunately, the fight against the global pandemic has additionally created a dramatic increase in single-used plastic products. Some of the common items used are plastic-made face masks, examination gloves, takeout food containers, and much more... As the focus has shifted from environmental protection to Covid 19, a larger variety of this plastic waste has- and will- continue to end up in our oceans.

Plastic pollution has already created a vast impact on our environment long before the Coronavirus outbreak. Tragically, the harmful consequences of this plastic outbreak will remain long after. The battle against the COVID-19 virus has created a true plastic waste time bomb for the oceans and the maritime ecosystems. The clock is ticking. The current, dramatic findings of the increasing plastic pollution in the sea require us to take action. There is an urgent need to limit the single used plastic offer and our plastic consumption.

We are not taking away the responsibilities from industries and politics, but every one of us has a role to play. We summed up in an infographic the current development and how you can disarm the plastic waste bomb.

By Sahel Nagem, Clotilde Maillard and Carlo Hennecke, students of the Digital Career Institute, Hamburg