Mass COVID-19 testing is necessary to our continued resistance against the virus. Although it is gradually becoming easier to test, with over 2 million secondary school students home testing across the UK in accordance with recent guidelines, this weekly usage of single-use plastics cannot be sustained by the global population in an environmental way.
The government’s new policies that have caused many supermarkets to charge extra for plastic bags in which to carry home shopping, stands in contradiction with the free tests, predominantly made of plastic, which are supplied to millions of homes across the UK each week. Arguably, testing for COVID-19 is of more immediate importance than carrying home shopping, but this disposable use of plastic can’t continue without both short-term and long-term consequences.
Obviously testing must be free of charge and accessible to everyone, so a quick solution is needed for this.
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