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(@deborah)
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Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 267
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Discarded masks and gloves are becoming a health hazard as people dump them on streets

A mask littered on the street.

 

(CNN)During a walk around his block in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mark Benfield was struck by how many discarded gloves and masks he saw on his short route.

The Louisiana State University professor, who focuses on microplastic pollution, decided to track the waste he saw with pictures geotagged to the location where he spotted it.
"It was a lot more PPE waste than I expected," he told CNN.
What Benfield saw in his short walk route is a snapshot of a problem that's apparent all across the country. As more Americans wear personal protective equipment in their daily lives, they're also littering it all over streets, parking lots and parks.
 
 
The problem is so severe that many state and county public health departments have issued advisories against throwing masks and gloves on the streets and parking lots.
Swampscott Police Department in Massachusetts has made unlawful littering punishable up to $5,500.
"We need to contain the spread of COVID-19 and do the right lawful thing by throwing these items in the trash," the Swampscott Police Department told its residents in a Facebook post, adding that it's happening all over town and not just at Stop & Shop. "Please stop littering, this is making more work and worry for the people having to pick up this trash."

Discarding plastic can create an environmental hazard

Since his first experiment, Benfield has created a methodological survey with his colleagues around the world. People can email him -- at covid19waste@gmail.com -- to participate in the survey and help his study on how expansive this waste problem is.
Two Chicago residents recently sent him data to show the amount of PPE littered in the span of a few blocks.
The map, using data from the survey responders, shows Chicago's Hermosa/Logan Square neighborhood on April 16. Masks are shown as circles, gloves as triangles, and wipes as squares. The yellow area is their survey area.
PPE tracking around a Chicago block

 
"Preliminary data from these survey responses shows that gloves are the most common PPE waste," Benfield said. "In the US, masks are difficult for the public to get. So gloves are most commonly found PPE waste on the street. In China, masks are freely available. So you see more masks discarded."
Gloves, masks and wipes are all plastic. When that's discarded into the environment, it goes into sewer systems or water bodies. It breaks down into microplastics, which still attract pesticides and other harmful chemicals. So when the marine animals eat it, they don't just get the plastic, they get the chemicals too.
"I can't think of a material better designed to look like a jellyfish than gloves," Benfield adds.
Other experts agree: This is a growing environmental hazard.
"The PPE is intended to help us fight a public health challenge, not create a plastic pollution problem," said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
The damage goes far beyond the marine ecosystem. Besides littering PPE in public areas, people are also disposing of these materials in their recycling. That's not where it's supposed to go.
"Even if they are plastic, they are not treated as curbside recycling," said David Biderman, executive director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). "You bag it to prevent the environmental harm. They should be placed in a securely tight garbage bag and be put out with the regular trash for collection."
Paul Zambrotta, who is director of safety at Mr. T Carting, a private waste management company that handles commercial waste, said he often finds rubber gloves and masks in the recycling mix.
He said he thinks that a combination of misinformation and wish-cycling is to blame.
PPE in recycling Paul Zambrotta

 
Unlike garbage bags that are trashed just as they are picked up, waste management employees work more closely with recycling material as it goes through a sorting line for quality control.
The employees use PPE to do the work according to federal guidelines, but the uptick of PPE in recycling bags has increased the risk for their health and safety.
"We're doing it more often than we have to," Zambrotta said. "We have to take out possibly contaminated PPE which wasn't even supposed to be in there."
While no workers at the company have tested positive for coronavirus because they're trained to work with PPE at all times, they have been scared, Zambrotta said.
"If anyone had a sneeze or a little itch, they thought they needed to self-isolate. At one point, I had 90% of my workforce out sick."
There is no market for used gloves and masks, and they can't be sold. However, they can easily get caught into the machinery in the recycling line and shut the facility down.
"Masks and gloves do not belong in recycling," Benfield reiterated.
As Earth Day approaches, Esposito said people should feel obligated to protect the environment.
"Long after Covid-19 is gone, we still need to protect the earth."

   
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(@lindseycoganiectskin-com)
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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 72
 

I too have seen masks and gloves lying around. It is insane how careless people can be. 


   
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(@gabriellemrasiectskin-com)
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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 106
 

I see masks and gloves on the ground all the time in the parking lots of grocery stores and such. I guess the garbage was too far. 


   
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(@deborah)
Member Admin
Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 267
Topic starter  

I think some people just don't care. Why anyone would just leave them in a grocery cart or other place other than the trash is beyond my thinking. 

I guess some people are not thinking when they dispose of the PPE in the wrong place. 

I'm glad we know better 


   
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(@sydneyhurdleiectskin-com)
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Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 158
 

It's disappointing to see people throwing their gloves/trash just anywhere, people need to stop being so lazy & find a trash can to throw their garbage in. 


   
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(@sydneyhurdleiectskin-com)
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Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 158
 

@lindseycoganiectskin-com agreed, how lazy & inconsiderate


   
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(@madisonmauldiniectskin-com)
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Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 221
 

I see masks on the ground everywhere. During the pandemic it was terrible. It is upsetting that people are too lazy to toss it in the garbage, or just put it back in their car when done with it. 


   
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(@madisonmauldiniectskin-com)
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Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 221
 

@sydneyhurdleiectskin-com I agree, there are trashcans outside almost every store you go to and it takes a few seconds to do.


   
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(@madisonmauldiniectskin-com)
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Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 221
 

@gabriellemrasiectskin-com It is quite nasty to see all of the masks and gloves on the ground. We need should protect ourselves and the earth too.


   
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(@oliviarossiectskin-com)
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Joined: 2 years ago
Posts: 29
 

People have definitely become careless. I have always hated littering and the fact that people are comfortable throwing masks and gloves on the ground blows my mind. It's honestly really gross to see and really gross for the person who has to pick it up. 


   
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(@oliviarossiectskin-com)
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Joined: 2 years ago
Posts: 29
 

@deborah It is definitely pure carelessness and laziness. I usually see them in parking lots and I can never understand because you usually have to pass a trashcan when you leave a store.


   
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