‘Avoid dropping litter to protect people’

AS WE know, litter is a huge problem. Not only is it unsightly but it is dangerous to wildlife and bad for the environment. Plastics especially.

And it would seem that with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic the incidences of littering and fly -tipping have become even more frequent.

Sadly, a growing part of the problem seems to be face masks and gloves that people have discarded while out and about.

This is a problem because textiles

are the largest source of both primary and secondary microplastics, accounting for 34 per cent of global microplastic pollution.

Every time you wash your clothes you are releasing around 700,000 microfibres into the sewage system.

As most are too small to be collected by wastewater treatment plants they end up in our oceans or on the fields as the sludge left after treating the waste water is often used as fertiliser.

This in turn, along with microplastics from litter that has broken down in the environment, will be washed away into our waterways and into the oceans.

Worryingly, microplastics can also be found in our drinking water and inside our bodies.

Facemasks are made up of several different kinds of materials including plastics.

Surgical gloves are also made of plastics. So, a discarded mask or pair of gloves will break down over time and the tiny bits of microplastic will be washed into our water ways and subsequently into the oceans, adding to the problem.

People should not be dropping litter anyway. There is absolutely no reason to, apart from the fact it is against the law.

Discarded gloves and masks may also carry the risk of infection. They need to be taken home and disposed of properly to protect others and protect our precious workers.

CS Perry Leek