As if the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic is not in itself, already posing the most serious of human health challenges, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is saying that spinoffs from efforts to push back the virus are in themselves, creating other problems.
Informed environmental opinion would appear to be buttressing an article published by the WEF in June last year asserting that coronavirus waste has become “a new form of pollution as single-use personal protective equipment [PPE] floods our oceans.”
Asserting that the advent of the pandemic has brought with it “a number of unexpected impacts on the environment,” the WEF says that one of those has been “curtailing recycling and increasing the use of plastic around the world.” It calls on governments, currently preoccupied with their respective national vaccination campaigns, to “act now to ensure a green recovery that incentivizes sustainability.”