covid and single-use

[SockYarn]

Seems like the last few months the concerns about single use plastic has cone out the window.

Everyone rushing to buy plastic gloves, single use/disposable masks, the NHS must have used millions of plastic aprons, gloves, masks, gowns. Supermarket workers saying people not reusing bags because they are worried somehow about spreading germs about. Stocks of bottled soap and plastic bottles of cleaning products seriously depleted. People using anti-bacterial everything, mainly those awful wipes which they use once and throw "away".

Except there is no "away". Everything into landfill. Billions of plastic masks in the oceans. Globally we're using 129 billion face masks and 65 billion plastic gloves every month. Despite the fact we're told that you don't need single use mask, get a washable one or just use a snood. And that soap in a bar is just the same as in a bottle. And that you don't need spray bottles of cleaning stuff, or gallons of bleach, and definittely not wipes.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-53287940/coronavirus-the-masks-you-throw-away-could-end-up-killing-a-whale

AIBU to think that in 5 or 10 years when there's a vaccine, effective treatment or both, and that Covid is just another of these diseases we all live with, we'll be spending billions on cleaning up the mess and reversing the litter? Or that people have reversed the thinking of hte last 10 years and are now embracing the disposable? And that bacterial resistance due to over use of antibac everything will be potentially a much bigger issue?

YANBU. It's depressing. We got 10 washable masks made at a local tailor who would have gone out of business if it weren't for the queues of people outside his shop for face masks. I've never seen anyone so happy to be sat at a sewing machine furiously churning out stuff before our eyes.

This stuff is catastrophic. It all is and it's a time bomb. But it's so hard to convince people to think beyond the next month or two-and I do sympathise with them. It is hard.

I dont think it is as bad as this everywhere?

I live in a south east commuter town. Everyone has continued using reusable shopping bags that i've seen. Washable face masks are very much in vogue, various makers locally selling them in nice prints.

I haven't been anti bac'ing (it's really not good for kids to live in such a sterile environment). We have been slowly shifting to bar soap but were using up liquid given at christmas. I've switched to a refillable deodorant bar, the baby has been in washable nappies throughout.

The only thing I have struggled with is food packaging. I had been getting meat from the counter in sainsburys where you can take your own box, thus avoiding any single use packaging, however they've closed counters so I wasnt able to. The only local butcher targets the "premium" end of the market, his meat is 3-4 times the price & I am not willing to spend it, especially knowing a big chunk of the price is his profit (he drives a serious car & lives in a very large house).

YANBU. It’s as depressing as fuck and so selfish. But hey, only virtue signalling and showing how unselfish you are about cv matters now. Fuck the planet.

YANBU. Apparently only CV matters now. Screw the planet.

And yes, this germ phobia and antibacing everything in sight is going to end horribly for us all. Immune systems need challenge. We're laying ourselves wide open for when the next thing comes and then it really will be like Spanish flu.

I've ended up with more plastic bags than I've had in about a decade as I've had delivery and collections. But they will all be used for litter picking so not completely wasted.
We do have reusable masks and I've got bar soap for me, the dc's won't use it.

So not great but we haven't gone to ruin quite yet. And the dc's are willingly eating more veggie food as the virus may have been transferred from animals.

I find it utterly depressing how many discarded masks I’ve seen on the side of the road when I go out walking. I haven’t been using a mask as WFH and getting shopping delivered but have ordered a reusable one in case I need to wear one.

My under stairs cupboard is full of carrier bags as Sainsbury’s won’t do bagless deliveries. I will take them to be recycled but I’d rather not have them in the first place!

I think people need to be reminded it’s possible to protect against Covid and still not use single use plastics in every day life. Bar soap is as effective as liquid!

Not sure it’s possible for the nhs, other medical professions and hairdressers etc given the government guidelines they have to adhere to!

Agree it's mixed messages. They are using the words "face covering" and "mask" interchangeably and most people think they need a proper mask. Although politicians and experts say you can use a scarf or whatever, 9 times out of 10 they're seen wearing a surgical style disposable mask.

I don't agree with your observations in your OP. People are reusing masks. You only have to look on FB and Etsy to see how many people are sewing washable fabric masks. Over the last 10 years many people have switched from shower gel to soap in order to avoid single use plastic. Sodastream is enjoying a revival. At my supermarket (large Sainsbury's) it is incredibly rare to see someone with a new plastic bag. Reusable all the way.
Yes to disposable PPE for hospitals, but I don't see a way around that. There are probably companies manufacturing models of reusable PPE now.

Also, you don't talk about the benefits to the environment during this period. No cruise ships polluting the oceans, far fewer airplanes, less commuting. More people cooking from scratch at home rather than getting takeaway in disposable wrapping.

I completely agree and I'm appalled that the government haven't given this any thought. We were making some really great progress and now it's all gone out of the window.

@DianaT1969 and you only need to look on here at the paranoid posts from the worried well at the start of lockdown, refusing to use reusable bags, cleaning shopping with disposable wipes etc to see many people only caring about themselves and not the environment.

@DianaT1969 I don't disagree but global warming isn't the same as litter.

Yes there has been less travel, less pollution, less burning of fossil fuels and that's very positive step.

But litter and single-use is a different matter which has exploded out of control.

I used to work in a research lab. The PPE waste generated by covid is utterly minuscule in comparison with the volume of single use plastic ware that is used and chucked away on an hourly basis in labs across the world, for experiments that often do not provide any useful information.