麻豆传媒

THE covid-19 pandemic has changed the litter we generate. Increased use of personal protective equipment (PPE) has added to a pandemic of plastic pollution, particularly medical face masks. Now, researchers are investigating how this wave of 鈥渃ovid litter鈥� is affecting wildlife 鈥� and they need your help.

The Covid Litter project is calling on volunteers worldwide to record observations and submit photographs or videos of animals they see interacting with PPE litter 鈥揻or instance, carrying the litter, playing with it, being trapped in it or using it as nesting material. You can submit your observations at .

As well as photographs or videos, you can share information on the species you observed, the type of PPE litter (face mask or glove) and the nature of the interaction, as well as the date and location. The data will help researchers build a global picture of the impact that PPE litter is having on animals.

at the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden and at Leiden University, both in the Netherlands, started the Covid Litter project after a volunteer in a weekly clean-up they organise in Leiden discovered a . That鈥檚 when we realised that PPE litter can be dangerous, says Hiemstra.

Since then, they have gathered many more examples of animals interacting with PPE litter, including a baby seal rescued by volunteers at the non-profit organisation Ocean Conservation Namibia that was found , as well as several observations of birds, such as coots in the Netherlands, using entangled in the straps.

鈥淚f I were a coot, I would also lay my egg on a face mask, because it鈥檚 soft, it鈥檚 a little bit like a small bed,鈥� says Hiemstra. 鈥淗owever, when the hatchlings come out of their eggs and the young are walking around, the chances of entanglement are very high.鈥�

Another problem is ingestion. 鈥淭his happened with a penguin found on a beach in Brazil,鈥� says Rambonnet. Dissection at the Argonauta Institute for Coastal and Marine Conservation in S茫o Paulo, Brazil, in September 2020 revealed that the , which is probably what killed it, she says.

Now, says Rambonnet, they want bird photographers, bird spotters, rescue centres, vets and citizens to share observations. The pair hope the Covid Litter project will raise awareness about the harm PPE litter, and plastic in general, causes wildlife.

鈥淚 think our relationship with plastic materials should change,鈥� says Hiemstra. 鈥淣ot viewing it as a single-use throwaway, but valuing it as a product that can last for 400 years and is really harmful in the wrong place.鈥�

For other projects visit聽newscientist.com/maker.