In our quest for cleanliness, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, we often overlook the environmental toll of our actions. The obsession with hygiene has led to a surge in single-use products, which, while providing a sense of safety, are contributing to a growing environmental crisis.
The Glove Phenomenon
Gloves are essential in medical settings, ensuring sterility and preventing contamination in hospitals, clinics, and labs. However, the sheer volume of gloves used daily results in a staggering amount of plastic waste. Millions of gloves are discarded daily in healthcare facilities worldwide.
Gloves are also used beyond healthcare. Like in salons, gloves are worn for hair coloring, massages, and other treatments to ensure hygiene. Similarly, in the food industry, many outlets have adopted glove use for serving food. The extreme measures taken in the name of cleanliness are highlighted when a restaurant provides gloves for eating pizza.
The production and disposal of gloves contribute significantly to plastic pollution.
Disposable gloves, primarily made from latex, vinyl, or nitrile, do not biodegrade easily and end up in landfills or oceans. This pollution poses a severe threat to marine life and ecosystems.
The Mask Surge
COVID-19 pandemic has exponentially increased the use of single-use masks. Before COVID, mask usage was limited to specific industries and situations. After COVID, mask usage surged, with billions of masks used and discarded globally. It's estimated that 129 billion face masks were used monthly worldwide during the pandemic.
Use of masks is from several years before.
COVID brought a steep surge in its demand, and studies shows the market size of masks is still growing year -on-year globally. People have started adopting maska at many places, which earlier was considered OK and safe. Even though creative ideas of reusable masks came, however, preference is still use and throw !
Single-use masks are typically made from plastic that does not decompose. Energy and resources consumption during manufacturing and transportation of the masks is only one side of what environmental impact production of these masks causes. On the other hand, used masks also result in large-scale environmental pollution. Improper waste disposal can lead to various problems, for example clogging waterways, harming wildlife, and can also end up to an extent, that humans would be inhaling the plastic fibres.
The Straw Dilemma
Straws are a prime example of single-use plastic that contributes to cleanliness at the cost of environmental health. Every day, millions of straws are used once and then discarded. In the United States alone, about 500 million straws are used daily.Plastic straws are lightweight and easily blown into waterways, where they pose a significant threat to marine life. They break down into microplastics, which are ingested by marine animals, entering the food chain and potentially impacting human health.
The above are just a few examples, you see around yourself and observe you are surrounded by so many plastics, single use plastics in which most of it goes to landfill. Be it your new books, or your new t-shirt, food, flowers, most of the packed items even in a cardbox have a layer of plastics, moving-in or out of an office or home, the plastic wrap serving multiple purposes.
While our cleanliness efforts are important, it's crucial to recognize the environmental cost. Some businesses and individuals are starting to address this problem by using greener, eco-friendly options like biodegradable gloves, reusable masks, and compostable straws.
However, the best solution is to avoid or refuse single-use plastics whenever possible. If avoiding them is not an option, then choose better alternatives and encourage friends and family to do the same. These eco-friendly options may be more expensive now, but as demand increases, they will become more cost-effective. Let's make wise choices to protect our planet while maintaining our hygiene standards.
By being mindful of our cleanliness habits, we can support to reduce the environmental impact and contribute to a healthier planet.
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