Hong Kong’s Mandatory COVID-19 Testing in Schools Fuels Plastic Waste Woes

Hong Kong’s Mandatory COVID-19 Testing in Schools Fuels Plastic Waste Woes
A woman wearing a protective mask buys boxes of Rapid antigen test kits for COVID-19 in Hong Kong, on Feb. 28, 2022. Tyrone Siu/Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

HONG KONG—A Hong Kong government rule that all school students and staff take daily COVID-19 tests will add massively to the city’s plastic waste problem, environmental activists say, with some 20 million kits a month set to be dumped at bursting landfills.

The mandatory rapid antigen tests (RAT), and their plastic accessories are expected to worsen marine and land pollution in the financial hub of 7.4 million people where some beaches and hiking trails are already awash with microplastics.