After the quarantine in different countries, the closure of many shops was inevitable. This is how the waters of the oceans and seas showed their cleanest side, as well as the increasingly clear skies. However, the increasing use and demand for masks and gloves, necessary accessories for protection against coronavirus, has tarnished this short moment of environmental cleaning.
The Asian environmental group called Ocean Asia reported that many of these accessories had been found on islands near Hong Kong, such as the Soko archipelago between the Asian country and Lantau. The group belonging to WWF’s Blue Oceans Initiative, led by Gary Stokes, noted that the number of these wastes had increased considerably over the days.
«Due to the current Covid-19 coronavirus, the general population has taken the precaution of wearing surgical masks and if you suddenly have a population of 7 million people with one or two masks per day, the amount of garbage generated is impressive», he noted Strokes through their web portal.
“As researchers [of marine pollution], we are interested in knowing the types of waste and the time in which they have been introduced, in order to determine their origin; and in this case, we have been detecting the presence of masks for six weeks», says the environmental team.
Climate change
After months without constant human activity, the environment has managed to take a breather from our presence. So much so that during the months of confinement, the ozone layer managed to close the hole that was expanding more and more.
It should be remembered that at the end of March, scientists from the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) pointed out and warned of the great gap that had formed over the Arctic. The concern reached such a point that the laws on plastic were getting stronger in different countries. However, by April 23, almost a month later, it had become a great scare for many.
«The unprecedented hole in the ozone layer in the northern hemisphere by 2020 no longer exists», said the scientific body. Now, it is feared that the new normality will bring with it the indiscriminate and unregulated use of different articles such as masks, gloves, and others, that could cause a similar effect.