COVID-19 and clean air: an opportunity for radical change
Authors: Grace Hatton
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2021)

News that global ambient air pollution has been significantly reduced since January 2020 as illustrated in the Comment by Landrigan and colleagues1Landrigan PJ Bernstein A Bingawaho A COVID-19 and clean air: an opportunity for radical change.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e447-e449Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar should be a welcome silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, their recommendations towards directing government investment to sustainable energy sources—although not revolutionary—are supported by a focus on overhauling unsustainable practices on a global scale, as afforded by our current global circumstances: acting now would undeniably benefit industry and human health on an unprecedented scale. However, the radical changes that the authors address should be extrapolated directly to health care, in which unsustainable practices are common. There are no established nationwide in-hospital recycling schemes that serve to minimise the environmental effect of health care-generated plastic waste, and effective measures are not being taken to seek alternatives to plastic consumption. The consulting group Axion have estimated that around 2250 tonnes of polyvinyl chloride could be recycled each year from oxygen masks, oxygen tubing, and anaesthetic masks alone.2AXIONRecoMed.https://axiongroup.co.uk/services/specialist-collection-schemes/recomed/Date: 2017Date accessed: November 25, 2020Google Scholar This plastic consumption is not just limited to toxic or hazardous health-care waste. Since 2013, organisations within NHS England have purchased more than half a billion disposable plastic cups for hot drinks, cold drinks, and dispensing medicines.3Marine Conservation SocietyNHS get through millions of disposable cups annually.https://www.mcsuk.org/news/nhs_disposable_cupsDate: 2018Date accessed: November 25, 2020Google Scholar Again, with no formal infrastructure in which these plastics can be recycled, almost all will end up in landfills or incinerators, and this problem has ballooned since the onset of COVID-19. Prata and colleagues4Prata JC Silva A Walker TR Duarte AC Rocha-Santos TAP COVID-19 pandemic repercussions on the use and management of plastics.Environ Sci Technol. 2020; 54: 1-6Crossref PubMed Scopus (551) Google Scholar have already cited statistics on the incremental demand on single-use plastic with around a 40% increase in plastic packaging and 17% in other fields—including health care for gloves, masks, and visors—since early 2020. Similarly, although the recommendations from Landrigan and colleagues1Landrigan PJ Bernstein A Bingawaho A COVID-19 and clean air: an opportunity for radical change.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e447-e449Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (18) Google Scholar ranging from curbing fossil fuel infrastructure to investment in renewable energy are commendable and forward-thinking steps, much more is still to be done to develop a circular (and thereby sustainable) economy. Implementable policy on reuse and recycling for single-use and disposable non-contaminated plastic items for the health-care sector—such as packaging of medical equipment—is still outstanding, and a focus on bringing circularity into the NHS in the UK and beyond should be front and centre of supply chain strategy while also ensuring safety and separation from non-recyclable plastics, including contaminated personal protective equipment. The assumption, above all, should be that these changes will support long-term solutions, and are not merely temporary reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. I declare no competing interests. COVID-19 and clean air: an opportunity for radical changeThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than 30 million infections and 960 000 deaths, causing disease in almost every country worldwide. Like all pandemics, it has laid bare and exploited social inequalities, and caused disproportionate damage to low-income families, people with poor health, and minority and marginalised groups. A further consequence of this pandemic has been economic havoc of a magnitude not seen since 1932. This downturn is projected to wipe out 200 million jobs worldwide. The previously unimaginable prospect of a second Great Depression seems possible. Full-Text PDF Open Access