As more Americans wear personal protective equipment like gloves and masks in their daily life, they're also throwing it on the streets, in parking lots and parks.
During a walk around his block in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mark Benson was struck by how much discarded gloves and masks he saw on his short route.
The Louisiana State University professor, who focuses on microplastic pollution, decided to track the waste he saw with pictures geotagged to the location where he spotted it."It was a lot more PPE waste than I expected," he told CNN.What Benson saw in his short walk route is a snapshot of a problem that's apparent all across the country.
— Alisha Ebrahimji April 5, 2020 The problem is so severe that many state and county public health departments have issued advisories against throwing masks and gloves on the streets and parking lots. Read MoreSwampscott Police Department in Massachusetts has made unlawful littering finable up to $5,500.
— 💙💙AMBER💙💙 April 18, 2020 Gloves, masks and wipes are all plastic. When that's discarded into the environment, it goes into sewer systems or water bodies. It breaks down into microplastics, which still attract pesticides and other harmful chemicals. So when the marine animals eat it, they don't just get the plastic, they get the chemicals too."I can't think of a material better designed to look like a jellyfish than gloves," Benson adds.
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