Exit your house and take a walk around your city, you’ll encounter multiple responsible citizens wearing their masks; take a quick minute to glance down, another thing you will most definitely encounter is a ground despicably littered with masks and gloves.

Globally we are already using approximately 129 billion face masks and 65 billion plastic gloves every month. It’s imperative for us to wear personal protective equipment for our safety and the safety of the people around us. However, we cannot afford to do that at the cost of our environment’s safety and cleanliness.

Here’s the two-fold problem with littering our PPE, plastic is the main ingredient in almost all PPE equipment. Most masks and gloves contain it and plastic decomposes over hundreds of years. Thus, we’re putting the environment at major risk by haphazardly disposing our PPE. Although that’s a major issue in and of itself, it’s worth noting that the virus can live on plastic for up to three days. So, if anyone comes in contact with your PPE containing the virus, they may contract it too. Thus, not only is littering an environmental hazard but it’s lethal to the health and safety of the people around us.

As citizens, it’s our duty to respect and protect the land we step on and take into consideration the safety of the people around us. The streets of Sharjah are not a garbage can, let stop treating it like one.

The only solution to the littering problem is you. Keep your masks on your face, not the roads; let your gloves protect your hands, not litter the grounds. Encourage your family, colleges and peers to live a life sans littering as well.