About 15 months after Corona's outbreak, many still focus on the healthy dimension of the pandemic, although it left a more disobedient problem related to the virus waste.
With the World Health Organization (WHO) that the "Coveyd-19" virus is a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, the use of protective masks and gloves has become a corner pillar in the fight against coronary infection;To worsen the problem of personal protection equipment and recycling them.
According to the appreciation of the specialists, the world uses a total of 129 billion of paper protective masks per month, at a rate of 3 million per minute or 50,000 every second depending on how to frame it.
With the world's focus on the health side of the Corona crisis, ignoring the fact that the protective masks are not just leaves but rather the polypropylene also, that is, the same plastic used in ketchup bottles, we are facing a new problem related to the trillions of neglected masks without a practical solution to recycle them.
Roadrunner's environmental site responsible for recycling waste highlights the PE PE), warning of the Corona waste trap that the world will continue to fight after a long period of the virus demise..
Medical waste problem
A month after the health organization "Coveyd-19" is officially classified as a pandem.
During this period, the majority of the lands of the earth sought (7.8 billion people) to buy personal protection equipment such as masks and rubber gloves to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Based on the foregoing, the surgical consumption rates have multiplied hugely and their production rate reached the maximum, taking into account that they are designed so that they can be disposed of after the first use;Due to the nature of the virus and the mystery surrounding its surfaces and outside.
According to the American Society for Science, Hospitals in Wuhan, Chinese, produced the coronary virus outbreak, more than 240 tons of one -use plastic medical waste (such as face masks, gloves and gowns) for each day at the height of the epidemic, or 6 times the daily average before the pandemic.
The truth is that the world was unable to prepare for the size of the waste left by the crisis, knowing that almost all personal protection equipment is designed from a non -recycling plastic, which deepens the problem.
Also the problem is that the current recycling system in most countries, including the advanced, which is called "individual current" is not equipped to deal with any of the personal protection equipment waste.
Therefore, specialists expect that personal protection equipment (masks and gloves) will likely remain, whether in the oceans or waste dumps and hazardous materials warehouses.
Where does personal protection equipment waste go?
Plastic recycling problems are not new to the world that has been in poor ability to address the crisis for years.For example, the United States could only recycle 8.7% of the volume of its plastic waste between 2015 and 2018.
The annual global production volume of plastic is estimated at 380 million pounds (except for the increase in masks and personal protection equipment), and 91% of the total number is never recycled..
In theory, assuming that the Corona epidemic will end 18 months after its classification is a pandemic, the world will have used an estimated 2.32 trillion mask, and with the current trends, only 1% will be recycled.
The worst in the crisis is the world's lack of a clear vision of how to get rid of those waste loaded with viruses, and in the absence of a "closed loop" system to recycle masks into a new use can be used.
Research indicates that by 2050 there will be plastic more than fish (by weight) in the ocean, but because the pandemic created a new type of plastic pollution, environmental scientists have warned against facing the risk of more masks than jellyfish in our surroundings.
Once the plastic enters the environment, it may take hundreds or even thousands of years until it decomposes, and due to the nature of the plastic, an estimated 79% of these materials may have already accumulated in our natural environment and in garbage dumps before the epidemic spread.
However, this number is likely to increase in the near future due to the epidemic, as a recent report by the World Wildlife Fund was estimated that even if only 1% of masks are eliminated incorrectly, it will end with 10 million in the natural environment monthly monthly..
Suggestions to solve the Corona waste crisis
According to the site, a Dutch company seeks to design a vital decomposing mask that is intended to plant on the ground as soon as it is disposed of, and as soon as it is buried, the seeds covered with the cover grow flowers..
While researchers from the University of RMIT in Australia suggested absorbing the neglected masks in building roads, as it uses an extension of two tracks 0.62 miles of this plastic pavement pavement 3 million masks, keeping 93 tons of wearable polypropylene away from the landfill dump..
A French company also collected 70 thousand muzzles last year, mixing it in a new type of plastic called Plaxtil that can be converted into masks and other products.
While Venetian Casino in Las Vegas pledged to recycle his employees' masks in plastic panels and railway ligaments.
أيضا اقترح خبراء من جامعة دراسات البترول والطاقة استراتيجية تحويل البلاستيك من معدات الحماية الشخصية المستخدمة إلى وقود سائل متجدد، وفقًا لدراسة جديدة نُشرت في مجلة Taylor & Francis Biofuels.
Countless companies focused on producing suitable cloth since the outbreak of the epidemic, as it is a good option for washing and its effect is equal to paper masks..
A study conducted by London University researchers found that if every person in the United Kingdom uses one day (mono -use) for a year, it will result in 66,000 tons of polluted plastic waste..
Archaeologists and solve the problem of Corona waste
Plastic waste has become a symbol of the epidemic and is now in the archaeological registry, as researchers are now being created by a viral archive, which is an archaeological record of history in the form of training.
One aspect of this archive is to increase environmental pollution, especially the problem of getting rid of face masks and gloves that distinguish the epidemic.
In the United Kingdom alone, 748 million pieces of personal protection equipment (14 million elements per day) were handed over to hospitals in two months, including 360 million gloves, 158 million masks, 135 million marks, and a million medical suit..
Lab Manager said that archaeology can contribute to finding solutions to the problem of pollution caused by the "Kofid-19" pandemic, by focusing on the spread and flexibility of material culture.
The new study was conducted by researchers from the universities of York, Sun Shine Coast and Tasmana, published in Antique, and its authors argue that archeology provides a unique basis for the formation of environmental policy in the post -Corona world.
Through the study, the researchers seek to highlight the waste problem by highlighting the elements in every place of plastic waste that have become symbolic for the epidemic and entered the archaeological record.
The researchers also work to provide a long -term perspective on the special response to the pace..
"Understanding human behaviors through the material culture that they leave behind is what archaeologists do.We believe that this approach provides a distinct and beneficial perspective for the problem of environmental pollution..
He added: "Our study deals with the broader issues revealed by the epidemic, which shows one of the ways in which archeology remains relevant and useful in shaping a sustainable future.".