Influence of COVID-19 on the Environment and Ecology

The article examines the positive and negative influence of the pandemic on the ecology. The analysis has shown a number of new problems. In fact, environmental problems have not disappeared: while a third of the world's population is in quarantine, plastic with a vengeance enters the oceans. The pandemic has shifted the vector in consumer policy. If before quarantine in developed countries there was a tendency to reduce waste and plastic, now personal safety is at the forefront. A global problem of disposing of medical protective equipment has appeared: masks, suits, shoe covers, gloves, which we lacked so much at the peak of the pandemic, are turning into waste that needs to be collected and recycled. As a result, plastic saves lives, but against the background of its growing consumption due to the pandemic, environmentalists fear negative consequences for wildlife. Masks and wet wipes are often thrown out on the streets, and rains wash them into sewage, after which they enter the oceans and become a threat to marine life. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.