What you can do to reduce the environmental impacts of COVID-19

Negative Environmental Effects of Covid-19:

• A spike in biomedical waste generation has arisen from the current pandemic. This is a major threat to not only our health but the health of our environment. 
• Not simply physical pollution, but also chemically pollution is distributed by having to disinfect constantly but also the biomedical and infectious wastes that get generated from all the hospitals and centers. 
• Tons and tons of medical waste has increased total waste significantly in countries like China, India, Bangkok and more. 
• The difficult part of this sudden pandemic is the haphazardness of waste of all these newly required disposable protection, such as what is needed for every patient, needles, gloves, masks, tissues, medicines, etc. 
• People are encouraged, and in many places, required to wear masks and gloves to protect themselves and others from contracting the virus. However, if people use and dispose of a mask a day, that accumulates to a lot of waste, and most of which is polluted.

How to Mitigate These Degradations:

• Learn proper disposable practices for these protective equipments, as not to participate in releasing toxic chemicals into the earth’s atmosphere. 
• Choose reusable options! Be zero-waste and choose to either make or buy your own face masks, use reusable cloth wipes to disinfect (some environmentally friendly companies include: Norwex,  VibraWipe, Skoy), and more. 
• Instead of choosing to use the single-use disposable masks, opt for a reusable face mask, and even better choose to support a local store/artist near you that sells them!
  • Several local stores on Pearl Street sell face masks!
  • A Longmont artist sells masks online!

How it Relates to Zero Waste:

• By choosing to use reusable items to protect yourself and others during this pandemic, to choose to be zero-waste is going to have a positive impact on the environment. 
• Reusing cloth masks helps limit the hefty amount of microplastics that are present in the disposable masks that are worsening pollution. 

D.I.Y. Reusable Masks:

• It is pretty simple to make your own mask at home, if you have the time and want to save money! 
• If you have any extra scrapes lying around, consider sewing your own face mask to add a unique mask to your outfit! 
• Click here for a step-by-step tutorial to follow along to create your mask!

CDC Guidance for Masks

Click here to get the latest guidance from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) about masks and mask usage.

Or check the CDC website if other information is needed.