(Photo: Greenpeace UK)
Ironically, the safety protocols that keep humans safe from the raging pandemic have been killing animals worldwide. The masks, gloves, and other disposable products we carelessly left in the open are all mistaken for food by birds. The products that we toss into lakes or rivers thinking that they are well disposed of are eaten by fish. Among the many victims of our actions, a fish trapped in a glove in the Netherlands, a penguin with a mask found in its stomach in Brazil, and a fox enmeshed in the mask in the UK are just some less severe effects. The inside of a dead bird revealed massive amounts of plastic bottles, masks, gloves, and cotton swabs.
A study published in the journal Animal Biology was the first case found that dealt with the fatal harms of COVID-19 litter. The litter was mainly disposable latex gloves and masks comprised of polypropylene fabric and rubber strings. In Canada, in April 2020, a dead entangled in a mask was found. Incidents including dead pufferfish and crabs entangled in masks happened near beaches. According to Liselotte Rambonnet from Leiden University in the Netherlands, “Animals become weekended due to becoming entangled, or starve due to the plastic in their stomach.” After being involved with these disposable products, most animals are bound to die.
Volunteering and participating in the Plastic Spotter canal clean-ups minimize the litter floating in lakes and rivers using Canoes. These groups free fish from latex gloves and take apart nests that are created with masks. They created articles and social media platforms to gain more popularity from people so that they could expand their help to the world instead of just local areas. In the Netherlands, weekly clean-ups resulted in over 100 items per search.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention reminded the public that gloves and masks left outside could contaminate others and negatively impact the environment. According to TerraCycle, they offer more eco-friendly disposable options for disposable gloves, face masks, garments, safety glasses, and other PPE waste.
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