Over 25,000 Tons Of Plastic COVID Waste Polluting The Oceans

Over 25,000 tons of plastic waste from the coronavirus pandemic has ended up in the world's oceans, according to a new study published in the online journal PNAS. The researchers estimated that 193 countries produced over 8 million tons of plastic waste during the pandemic. That waste primarily includes masks, gloves, packaging material, and other types of personal protective equipment.

According to The Guardian, 46% of waste came from Asia, while Europe was responsible for 24%, and North and South America each produced 22%.

The study's authors, Yiming Peng, Peipei Wu, Amina T. Schartup, and Yanxu Zhang, said that the massive increase in demand for personal protective equipment overwhelmed many countries' ability to handle the waste.

"Unfortunately, the treatment of plastic waste is not keeping up with the increased demand for plastic products. Pandemic epicenters in particular struggle to process the waste, and not all the used PPEs and packaging materials are handled or recycled," the wrote. "This mismanaged plastic waste (MMPW) is then discharged into the environment, and a portion reaches the ocean."

The authors blamed most of the pollution on large hospitals and not individuals who have been throwing their used masks in the garbage.

"Most of the plastic is from medical waste generated by hospitals that dwarfs the contribution from personal protection equipment and online-shopping package material. This poses a long-lasting problem for the ocean environment and is mainly accumulated on beaches and coastal sediments. We call for better medical waste management in pandemic epicenters, especially in developing countries," they said.