Concerns as medical items flood earth surface

The world environmentalists have warned of possible havoc the rising rate of littered used medical materials could bring to the earth.

With the advent of covid-19 in 2019, the use of nose masks has become a global norm as a measure to prevent contracting the airborne disease. Also, the consumption of syringes and oxygen cylinders has unsurprisingly increased in the last two years in battling the virus.

While the use of these items are inevitable in the struggle to curtain the pandemic, their in-discriminating disposal may be the birth of another war in revival our natural environment amidst the current struggle to achieve a cleaner environment.

With concerns about dangerous potential medical equipment already mounting prior to 2019, the covid-19 pandemic now means proper awareness must be created as regards the disposal of used medical item in order to keep our earth safe.

In 2018, the World Health Organization, revealed that over 16 billion injection are administered yearly and most of these are not disposed off properly. This number has gone more than triple in the of months following the discovering of covid-19.

For instance, the University of Portmouth found masks littering rose by 9000% in the first 7 months of the pandemic. The researchers posit that the effect of this pollution could last for 100 years.

In the UK alone, over 53 million nose masks are discarded on daily basis, a waste company has said.

Apart from the fact that these items can be washed into water body like stream, river  and stream; they can block our drainage system and thereby leading to flooding.

“We know that 53m are being sent to landfill each day – but just how many end up elsewhere is the very scary part,” the waste company said.

Consequently, the World Health Organisation, WHO, warns that the rising amount of medical waste is endangering public safety and the environment, and would need to be controlled to prevent any future disaster.

At this dire time when the world is currently battling a deadly virus and at the same time reviving a greener environment, there could be no better time to right the wrong and prevent further peril to our dear earth and its inhabitants.