前几天cnn让我们找疫情期间与“口罩生产与回收”有关的资料搜到的，挺有意思。
A year ago, the idea that disposable face masks, gloves, and wipes could become global environmental pollutants was not a pressing concern. Personal protective equipment, PPE for short, was seen as essential for preventing the spread of COVID-19. No one imagined just how much of it would be needed, for so long. Then the production exploded—and now the litter is inescapable.
Face masks, gloves, and wipes are made from multiple plastic fibers, primarily polypropylene, that will remain in the environment for decades, possibly centuries, fragmenting into smaller and smaller microplastics and nanoplastics. A single face mask can release as many as 173,000 microfibers per day into the seas, according to a study in Environmental Advances.、
The problems created by PPE litter have arrived at a complicated time in the effort to curb plastic waste. The amount of plastic waste accumulating in the oceans is forecast to triple in the next 20 years, with no real solution on the horizon. If every corporate pledge（许诺）to use more recycled plastics were kept, the shift would reduce that projected tripling by just 7 percent. The pandemic has also seen increased production of disposable packaging, as consumers have bought more takeout food, and as bans of single-use plastics, including shopping bags, were suspended because of fears that reusables would spread the virus.
As face masks and gloves became increasingly visible, the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for ocean protections, began last summer to assess the spread of PPE litter around the world. The organization added PPE to its mobile app that allows volunteers to document trash items and upload them to the organization’s website. In a global survey of volunteers 107,219 individual items of PPE litter were documented, though the group’s leaders concluded that figure is likely a “vast underestimate.”
A better measure may come from the volunteers themselves; 94 percent reported seeing face masks, gloves, and other PPE litter in their communities on a regular basis, while half said they see PPE litter daily. Forty percent reported seeing PPE litter in streams, rivers, and oceans.
“The problem is huge; there’s no hiding that,” says Nicholas Mallos, the director of the program. “But remember, this is on top of the existing global crisis of plastic waste. It’s a matter of public health, and also ocean health.”
Justine Ammendolia, a marine researcher based in Toronto documented face masks, gloves, and wipes at six sites, including two grocery store parking lots, a hospital district, two residential areas, and a recreational trail. She logged 1,306 items over five weeks last summer. Not surprisingly, the grocery parking lots had the most, followed by the hospital district.
“It’s not the biggest amount of plastic in the world,” she says, “But, the thing is, we’re going to be changed after this event, as is our relationship with disposability.
- The first paragraph suggests that（ ）.
A. The problem of plastic waste had raised little concern until recently
B. The impact of disposed PPE on the environment had been underestimated
C. PPE was no longer essential to prevent the spread of COVID-19
D. we have produced more PPE than we actually need
- The underlined word curb in paragraph 3 probably means（ ）.
A. ban B. predict C. eliminate D. control
- The passage suggests that（ ）
A. We need to come up with new ways to deal with the waste we produce
B. Plastic pollution will be reduced if companies stick to their promises
C. More volunteers should be involved to get a better picture of pollution
D. PPE waste is more harmful than other forms of plastic waste
- Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. PPE waste: it’s only a tip of the iceberg
B. PPE waste: what can we do to reduce it?
C. PPE waste: we have a new way to fix it
D. PPE waste: you will never know what harm it does
答案：（不要轻易点）
BDAA
出处：https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/how-to-stop-discarded-face-masks-from-polluting-the-planet
