Personal Protective Equipment Pollution in Washington D.C.

A discarded protective mask sits on the edge of Washington's Tidal Basin with other washed up trash.

Surgical masks, gloves, protective equipment, body bags -- the COVID-19 crisis has spurred a rapid expansion in the production of desperately-needed plastic products, with governments racing to boost their stockpiles and regular citizens clamoring for their share of supplies.

All that plastic ends up somewhere -- and environmentalist fear it is just the tip of a looming iceberg, with the pandemic causing a number of serious challenges to their efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
From people discarding plastic gloves and masks in cities across the world to important regulations on the use of plastic being scrapped, rolled back or delayed, the problem has taken a back seat during one of the most significant public health crises of modern times.