Letters | Don’t let Covid-19 waste give rise to another crisis: environmental disaster

Carbon emissions dropped last year but, if we do not consider the impact of the millions of discarded single-use masks, and plastic and other Covid waste we are generating in this pandemic, we will end up in another crisis

Climate change

Letters

Published: 7:00am, 20 Feb 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

You come home, throw away your mask, and will most likely never think about the piece of garbage you threw in the trash ever again. And you will most likely throw away masks again and again because, with the pandemic, masks and other forms of plastic have become a daily hygiene necessity.

But what impact will these waste products have on our environment? And, more importantly, are governments prepared to conquer plastic waste?

With Covid-19 taking centre stage in our lives, it is easy to forget an ongoing crisis, one that may not appear immediately in front of us, but is seeping into our lives with the potential to cause irreversible damage: climate change.

While climate change is not new, it is an issue that many of us push to the back of our minds because the effects are not immediate.

Last year, we saw an improvement in carbon emissions, with an estimated decrease of 8 per cent, according to the International Energy Agency. This is good news; however, that decrease came with countrywide lockdowns and millions of deaths around the world. And that decrease does not include the emissions to come from the additional amount of waste we are producing because of the pandemic.

02:26

From macaques to crabs, wildlife face threat of masks discarded during Covid-19 pandemic

Governments across the globe need to begin discussing how to handle the impact of this coronavirus on our ecosystem. And we, as citizens, also need to keep reminding ourselves of the severity of global warming and environmental degradation.

Even though all we see right now are rising Covid-19 death rates and filled-up hospitals, if we do not continue taking action to battle climate change, if we do not consider how the barrage of waste we are producing will affect our future, we will end up in another crisis.

Four hurdles to cross before everyone joins the climate change fight

The reason Covid-19 hit our society so hard was because we were not prepared. But we know the masks and plastic wraps we use have repercussions, and we can prepare for that. So let us learn our lesson from 2020 and ensure our world does not greet another calamity soon.

Let us continue to use our voices to educate those around us on the effects of climate change, and remind one another of its ominous presence so we never neglect this looming crisis again.

Clara Ki Lu, Mid-Levels

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