Covid-19: Keep the environment clean

Especially during the Corona lockdown, even more people are drawn to nature, and the warm spring temperatures and approaching Easter holidays are amplifying this trend.

This is welcome, as fresh air benefits both body and soul. However, every person seeking recreation must be aware that our beautiful natural and cultural landscape requires appropriate care and mindfulness. This includes not simply leaving one's trash behind in nature. It must be all our goal to prevent littering from occurring in the first place.

Risk for humans and animals

Plastic packaging, cigarette butts, glass bottles and tin cans, car parts, electronic waste and chemical refuse – all of this is dumped in our natural environment. Trash along roadsides and pathways is not only a visual problem, but also diminishes both the quality and safety of food and feed. Any waste that ends up in fields could be shredded and worked into the soil. The consequence is crop contamination and ultimately trash contamination in food products that may not be separable and, in the case of discarded chemicals, may not even be detectable or identifiable. This can also create a health risk for consumers. For wildlife and soil organisms, waste poses an equal threat, and the impact on livestock is also significant: contaminated feed can make animals sick, while metal, plastic or glass fragments increase the risk of injury.

Small fish struggle in carelessly discarded plastic gloves that have become death traps for them at the water's edge. The chicks of songbirds strangle themselves with the rubber bands from FFP-2 masks that parent birds have dragged into the nest as "nesting material" and hedgehogs get their little legs tangled in mask waste or suffocate in the PP fleece of disposable gowns.

For birds, strings and threads are particularly dangerous, as they can become entangled in them. Small birds like robins and sparrows, but also falcons and swans, get their wings trapped in the elastic bands of disposable masks or become entangled with their feet. The rubber bands also easily wrap around their beaks. All of this prevents birds from foraging and feeding. Gulls, ducks and swans, but also mammals like foxes and wild boar unintentionally eat remnants of soiled protective clothing. It occurs that plastic parts, filter attachments and remains of protective visors in animal stomachs lead to starvation. Veterinarians also increasingly find plastic remnants in the digestive organs of domestic animals like dogs and cats that can be identified as Covid-19 protective equipment.

Covid-19: Keep the environment clean

Added to this are damages to agricultural machinery, and the increased workload for farmers to clear our nature of waste is not to be underestimated. Carelessly discarded trash thus not only has negative effects on humans and animals, but also costs time and money.

In reality, we all know that waste does not belong in nature. Nevertheless, much garbage ends up in nature out of convenience or carelessness. Litter lying around should therefore be consistently disposed of.

Just like the purchasing decision and the proper use of goods, this is also an important part of consumer responsibility: proper disposal.

Those who throw their garbage into the designated collection containers protect our nature, the climate and ultimately our future food as well as the feed for animals.

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Contact: Communications IG Wild beim Wild, + 41 79 236 95 81, info@wildbeimwild.com