Mehedi Hasan
The use of single-use plastic has increased due to coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic. This is a threat to the environment and public health. Bangladesh uses around 87,000 tonnes of single-use plastic waste every year. These plastics cannot be recycled. As a result, they ended up in soils, rivers, canals and seas.
In the past, single-use plastic meant shampoo and conditioner bottles and mini-packs, toothpaste tubes, plastic toothbrushes, tea bags, straws and various food packets. We use these products since waking up in the morning until going to bed at night.
Currently the use of surgical masks, gloves, PPE kits and various types of sanitiser tubes to combat the coronavirus has greatly increased. The use of plastic cups has also risen at an unusual rate to stay away from coronavirus.
Surgical masks, gloves, PPE kits are necessary but people are using plastic cups unnecessarily. These cups are widely used for tea and coffee in tea shops.
A survey by Voice on Climate Change (VOCC) found that plastic cups are now being used in every tea shop. Each tea shop sells an average of 125 cups of tea every day.
According to the latest data published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), in 2018, there were about 491,279 tea shops in the country. As such, 61 million cups are used every day across the country. This harms the environment and poses threats to the public health.
According to a study by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, plastic cups last up to 50 years in the environment. Researchers say plastics contain a toxic called Bisphenol-A (BPA) and when hot foods or drinks come in contact with plastics and the chemicals mix with the food.
When it enters the body regularly, the normal functioning of the estrogen hormone in women is disrupted and sperm count is reduced in men. It can also cause severe damage to the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs and skin. There is even a risk of breast cancer.
Because of COVID 19, most countries in the world have issued guidelines requiring everyone to wear mask while going out. As a result, citizens are buying masks out of panic.
Masks, gloves and sanitisers are available not only in drug stores but also in small shops and even on the roadsides. But environmentalists are terrified of what will happen after using them.
Researchers at Ocean Asia, an organisation involved in environmental protection, have found a large number of surgical masks on various beaches in Asia over the past two months.
Environmentalists see a serious danger in this, because plastic cup, polythene gloves and surgical masks are not biodegradable at all. As a result, they float in canals, rivers and seas.
Another disaster will happen if fishes eat these masks and gloves. Therefore, single-use plastics used during COVID-19 are posing threat to public health as well as the environment.
Mehedi Hasan is a public relation professional and climate activist
