Hospitals, masks and test kits all produce plastic waste. Only a small part of it is recycled.
Feature card of the chart, Mismanaged plastic waste : Xuanming Liang & James Goldie, 360info CC BY 4.0
Hospitals, masks and test kits all produce plastic waste. Only a small part of it is recycled.
Plastic has saved lives in the pandemic — but it’s piling up, choking our rivers and oceans.
With the widespread introduction of disposable masks and test kits, the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that healthcare uses plastic too. But most of it is used away from the eyes of the public, in hospitals.
As this chart shows, researchers are racing to estimate just how much of the pandemic’s plastic waste is being recycled.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
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