COVID-19 has led to an increase in the demand for single-use plastics.
COVID-19 has led to an increase in the demand for single-use plastics and a team of researchers, through a model, has estimated the waste of this type associated with the pandemic at about eight million tons, of which more than 25,000 tons enter the oceans.
The increased use of masks, gloves or face shields, among other objects with plastic, together with poor waste management, will cause part of it to end up in rivers and oceans, intensifying the global problem of this type of garbage, indicates a study published PNAS.
The research, led by the Chinese University of Nanjing and the American University of California in San Diego, indicates that in about three or four years a significant part of this oceanic plastic debris is expected to reach the beaches or the seabed.
A smaller part will go to the open sea, to end up trapped in the centers of the ocean basins or in the subtropical gyres, where they can become patches of garbage, and in a circumpolar zone of accumulation of plastics in the Arctic Ocean.
The team used a numerical model to quantify the impact of the pandemic on land-based plastic spills, from the start of the pandemic until last August.
Most of the plastics entering the ocean comes from Asia and hospital waste makes up the majority of landfills, so the study reveals the need for better management of medical waste in developing countries.
The researchers found that most of the global plastic waste from the pandemic reaches the ocean from rivers, with Asians accounting for 73% of total plastic dumping.
The rivers that contribute the most to this pollution are Shatt al-Arab, Indo and Yangtze, which flow into the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the East China Sea.
European rivers, meanwhile, represent 11% of discharges, with minor contributions from other continents.
Although most of the plastics associated with the pandemic are expected to end up on beaches and the seabed, a smaller amount is likely to end up circulating or settling in the Arctic Ocean.
“We know that if the waste is released from Asian rivers into the North Pacific Ocean, some of it will probably end up in the Arctic, a kind of circular ocean that can be, a bit, like an estuary, accumulating all kinds of things that are released from the continents, “said Amina Schartup of the University of California.
The model shows that around 80% of plastic waste moving into the Arctic will sink rapidly and a circumpolar plastic accumulation zone is expected to form by 2025.
The numerical model works as “a virtual reality” that simulates how sea water moves driven by the wind and how plastics float on the surface of the ocean, degrade in sunlight, fill with plankton, settle on beaches and sink to the depths, explained another of the authors, Yanxu Zhang, from Nanjing Universities. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
