![]() A Dutch COVID-19 litter project reported 6347 photos of gloves or face masks littering The Netherlands during the months of May and June (Groot, 2020). The #glovechallenge, in which people shared their observations of gloves and face masks (fig. 1), resulted in more than 11 000 photos of COVID-19 litter from all over the world (Cardona, 2020). As a response to the increase of COVID-19 litter, many states in the USA have raised the fines for littering PPE, sometimes up to $5500 as in Massachusetts (O’Laughlin, 2020). A growing public concern about PPE litter became apparent during March and April 2020, as a Google News search on ‘PPE’ and ‘litter’ showed a sudden increase in news articles (Canning-Clode et al., 2020). ![]() Even on the uninhabited Soko Islands, Hong Kong, already 70 discarded face masks were found on just a 100-meter stretch of beach (Kassam, 2020). Three months after face masks became obligatory in the UK, PPE items were found on 30% of the monitored beaches and at 69% of inland clean-ups by the citizen scientists of the Great British Beach Clean (Riglen, 2020). PPE litter, also referred to as COVID-19 litter, mainly consists of single-use (usually latex) gloves and single-use face masks, consisting of rubber strings and mostly polypropylene fabric. Similar to the usage of other single-use plastic items, this also means an increase of PPE littering our environment (Fadare & Okoffo, 2020). It is estimated that we have a monthly use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves globally (Prata et al., 2020). China, for example, increased face mask production by 450% in just one month (Bown, 2020). To protect humans against this virus, personal protective equipment (PPE) is being used more frequently. ![]() While we have seen reductions in air pollution (Chen et al., 2020 Dutheil et al., 2020), NO 2 emissions (NASA, 2020), and CO 2 emissions (Myllyvirta, 2020), plastic pollution seems to be increasing (Fadare & Okoffo, 2020 Silva et al., 2021). During the past months the pandemic has resulted in almost 90 million confirmed cases and almost two million deaths globally as of early January 2021 (JHUM, 2020). WAVE KILLED WILDLIFE MASSE FULLTo understand the full scale of this problem, we welcome anyone to contribute to our overview by submitting their observations online at To further prevent PPE litter, it is recommended that, when possible, reusable alternatives are used.Īfter the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, the World Health Organization officially declared the virus a pandemic on 11 March 2020 (WHO, 2020). We signal COVID-19 litter as a new threat to animal life as the materials designed to keep us safe are actually harming animals around us. This resulted in the first overview of cases of entanglement, entrapment and ingestion of COVID-19 litter by animals and the use of it as nesting material. To place these new findings in context, we collected online reported interactions of animals with PPE litter, since the start of the pandemic. We also report the first cases of birds using medical face masks as nesting material, which were also found in the Dutch canals. Here we present the first case of a fish entrapped in a medical glove, encountered during a canal clean-up in Leiden, The Netherlands. Recreationists can make reports about fish and other wildlife to the WDFW by clicking here.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is massively used, resulting in a new wave of litter: protective face masks and gloves. ![]() And we do have an online reporting tool that we ask people to use to let us know if they spot anything unusual (like) dead fish on the side of a river or lake or anything like that – because we do want to know about it.” “We’re cautiously optimistic that we won’t see widespread impacts but we’re definitely monitoring the situation. When water temperatures become elevated enough, particularly during lengthy spells of extreme heat, it can actually kill fish, as well as cause them to migrate en masse to cooler waters.Īnderson says WDFW biologists are staying vigilant to any potential changes in fish health and behavior due to the hot weather, and adds the public can help them out by doing the same. We’re also seeing pretty good river flows and those are usually pretty good signs for survival of fish, even in heat waves like this.” “But at this time, waters in the Columbia River and most of its tributaries are still pretty cool and are not particularly stressing salmon. “We’re certainly keeping an eye out for any potential impacts to fish populations,” explained Anderson. ![]()
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