ENVIRONMENT: POST PANDEMIC DISPOSABLE SOCIETY

Coronavirus & The Sustainability Movement

It’s a crisp autumn morning as I walk down Thomas Street, and part of me quietly relishes in the steady warmth of my face mask against the unsolicited chill. I speculate whether any of the passing strangers find a similar comfort, especially compared to the the heat of mid-July when face coverings were made mandatory in 2020. They’re not always confined to our faces, though, as I catch sight of one clinging to a gully grate in the road, then another caught in a rustling torrent of leaves. One lies trampled over the grooves and troughs of the traffic crossing, a boot mark emblazoned on the front as clearly as the leopard print on mine. It’s not an uncommon sight to see a solitary blue mask wading in a nearby puddle amongst the discarded cigarette butts. According to a report in the Environment Journal, since face-coverings were made mandatory, 1.6 billion single-use masks are sent to landfill every month in the UK alone, and Waste Free Oceans found that each mask takes approximately 450 years to decompose. Meanwhile The Guardian reported that Laurent Lombard, of Opération Mer Propre, suggested there will soon be more masks in the Mediterranean ocean than jellyfish. This exacerbates an already colossal marine plastic pollution problem. Project lead of Plastic: Redefining Single-Use at The University of Sheffield, Tony Ryan, believes that plastics aren’t innately the problem, but the volume which are unnecessarily single-use. “There are some pieces of single-use plastic that have to be and should never be anything else, but there’s also a lot due to low cost and convenience. This applies just as much to medical plastics as it does to plastic packaging,” Ryan explains. “Where there’s no need for something to be single-use, we should be keeping the pressure on to move towards things that are reusable. It should still be a priority even during the pandemic.” A distinct increase in single-use plastic is found in food and drink packaging such as disposable coffee cups, which had largely been relinquished before coronavirus. Despite this shift, Ryan refutes the notion that reusables are more unsafe than single-use. “During the pandemic, people think they don’t have to worry about washing their reusable cup or buying prepackaged vegetables, because they’re doing what’s considered ‘safer’. But I think we need to go back to making evidence-based decisions rather than riskaverse decisions.

1.6 billion single-use masks are sent to landfill every month in the UK alone.

“Environmental problems are caused by economic growth, and if an economic recovery means going back to the consumption patterns that we had before, then these are the things we need to change our views on,” Ryan says. Although many cafes now offer a ‘solution’ by using non-plastic cup alternatives, Recycle for Greater Manchester has noted a significant – yet confusing – difference between biodegradable and compostable products. While compostable products decay and pass nutrients into the surrounding soil, biodegradable products take decades to decompose and cause harm to the environment.

Environmental problems are caused by economic growth.

Can We Return To The Progress Made Pre-Pandemic?

The problem is in the volume of unnecessary single-use plastics.

Alternatively, some businesses have attempted to negate the rise of single-use plastics that has arisen during the pandemic, as seen with the launch of the #ContactlessCoffee campaign by City to Sea, with even the coffee-giant Starbucks implementing a similar operation. Despite the seemingly bleak statistics in terms of single-use plastics and recycle culture, Ryan is certain that reusable cups will make a strong recovery in the long-run as retailers suss the market for eco-friendly consumerism. Almost every high-street coffee chain now stocks their own range of branded cups and have implemented discounted incentives for reusable cup users. Ryan suggests that the concern lies with accountability, and although no one advocates for single-use plastic pollution, this doesn’t stop its use. Since the technologies to reduce packaging waste are available, Ryan believes it’s up to the government to enforce legislation. “We should really get the environmental laws much higher on the agenda and recognize that they’re actually not just environmental sustainability schemes but they’re also job creation schemes and equality enhancing schemes too,” he says. Despite the coronavirus’ impact on the passing of legislation essential in the fight against climate change (such as the significantly delayed Environmental Bill), there is still progress being made closer to home. Greater Manchester, for example, has committed to developing new technologies to meet the demands of greener energy, aiming to become carbon-zero by 2038, The Northern Quota reports. In association with Greater Manchester’s Green Summit, and funded by a £3 million grant from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the project strives to provide energy to the city solely in the form of electricity, hydrogen and heat networks. This follows a pivotal moment in the UK’s quest for sustainability, when the levels of carbon-free electricity outweighed that provided by fossil fuels for the first time in 2019 according to the National Grid. Meanwhile, in terms of transport, temporary pedestrianization schemes have been implemented across the city to create space for social distancing, with some believing the reduction in carbon emissions and increased demand in sustainable travel is reason enough to make the changes permanent. Manchester’s Green Party endorsed the initiatives, with Alison Hawdale claiming this is one way in which the country must rebuild postcoronavirus “with the environment in mind”. She said: “The pandemic must not be an excuse for the government evading its responsibility for fighting against climate change. There is growing evidence that respiratory problems caused by Covid-19 are made worse by air pollution.” Arguably, after its impromptu and untimely hiatus, it’s never been so important to get the sustainability movement back on track. Education, clearer messaging and legislation seem to be the key to discouraging complacency; otherwise, the risk of more serious repercussions will only be waiting for us on the other side of the pandemic.