During this COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve seen news articles all over the internet talking about how much waste surgical masks are producing, how much waste single-use bags are producing. I even wrote an article about how this pandemic is benefiting the plastic industry.
After an order to wear masks was put in place in many cities, people were scrambling to stores to find anything they could to use to protect themselves. Most of these products are made of polypropylene or polyethylene. These materials are just contributing to the global “plastic boom” during this time. But one organization is using plastics that have been harvested from the ocean to help people in need of masks.
PADI, or the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, in partnership with Rash’R, a company that sells eco-friendly active wear, is using plastic collected from the ocean to make masks. The masks they are manufacturing are made entirely from 1,267 pounds of plastic that they have harvested from the ocean.
Lisa Nicklin, VP of Consumer Marketing at PADI said, “We are not profiting from this product.” PADI is selling the masks for $20.40, which is the cost of harvesting the plastic and production. I think that it’s great that an organization is doing so much to help during this critical time. They are helping out people who need masks, and at the same time, reducing the amount of plastic polluting the ocean!
But we don’t have to leave it to PADI and Rash’R to reuse polluted plastics for us. Everyone uses plastics at their own homes, whether it be plastic bags, plastic bottles or plastic containers. These plastics can just as easily be reused by people. We’ve all heard of reusing single-use plastic bags as trash bags, refilling plastic bottles with cooking oil.
These aren’t the only ways we can reuse these polluting plastics, how about reusing plastic strawberry containers for storing fresh fruit bought from the farmer’s market? There are so many ways that these things can be used, we can all think outside the plastic box (pun intended). We don’t have to leave it to large corporations or the government to control plastics for us.
Reusing plastics is something that can be done by anyone, from people pulling plastic out of the ocean to make masks, to someone simply reusing their plastic bottle for a few days. Remember, we can all make an impact on the future of this planet, no matter how big or small.
