COVID-19 is exacerbating another long-term problem
We need a fresh response to our growing stockpile of plastic trash
Like anyone who’s been retired for more than a few years, I’ve had my share of visits to the doctor, even the hospital. But until I recently received a prescription for eye drops, it didn’t hit me how much the medical industry contributes to our country’s pervasive plastic waste problem.
Six boxes arrived at my home, each with three plastic envelopes inside. Each envelope contained ten tiny plastic vials attached together like a picket fence. Each vial held two drops of medicine.
Every night I remove a vial, twist off the top, put a drop in each eye and then shake my head in disbelief at the two tiny pieces of plastic in my hand. They’re nothing, really — insignificant when you consider the amount of plastic that surrounds us. But after a while, they add up.
While consumer pressure and legislative action have reduced the use of plastic straws, polystyrene (better known as Styrofoam) containers and plastic grocery bags, with other targets in sight, the medical industry has been using more and more plastic.
Disposable syringes, IV bags and one-dose vials are a few examples of single-use plastics regularly used, then thrown out, in hospitals and medical and surgical practices. The term “single-use” makes it clear that these items won’t be reused. However, many Americans are under the impression that most plastics get recycled, especially when manufacturers tout that. They won’t be. In 2017, only 8 percent of plastics were recycled across the United States.
As you’d expect, the plastics industry is quick to promote the benefits of its products, and clearly they’ve found a willing marketplace of health care professionals. Compared to medical products made of metal or glass, plastic items can be relatively light, durable and inexpensive. They can also provide a germ-free medium for holding and dispensing medication — and for other medical purposes that require sterility.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, those factors have led to a staggering growth in the use of plastics. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is almost exclusively single-use, disposable plastic. We’re pleased from a health care perspective when we have enough surgical masks, face shields, respirators, ventilators, gloves, caps, shoe covers, test kits and isolation gowns. But the unintended consequence of this is an enormous amount of new medical plastics labeled and discarded as hazardous waste or simply put in the trash.
With the rise of medical single-use plastics in general, and specifically with the increase brought about by COVID-19, it will be a challenge to replicate the progress made against single-use plastics in the retail sector. Consider:
- Producers of medical supplies show no sign of seeking alternatives to plastic materials. Even if a federal bill passes that outlaws single-use plastics, it could exempt the medical industry, like some state bills have — especially in the wake of single-use plastics’ value in offering protection against COVID-19.
- The medical community — hospitals, clinics, medical practices and their patients — is a constituency with fewer alternatives to plastic supplies than retail customers. And giving up the benefits of medical plastics is a hard choice, even among some who fully recognize and appreciate their long-term costs to our health and environment.
- The current waste-disposal and recycling infrastructure is ineffective in preventing plastics from ending up in sewage, rivers, and oceans.
Clearly, we need to reassess and better manage our dependency on plastic. The COVID-19 pandemic will not end for a while and it may not be the last one in our lifetimes. While we’re figuring out what we want the world to look like when the pandemic ends, now is as good a time as any to gameplan how to break free from our plastic dependence. And PPE is as good a place as any to start.
