Lateral flow tests: Should I recycle the plastic?
Scientists say more could have been done to make lateral flow tests widely recyclable. …
Researchers estimate the UK’s lateral flow testing programme has produced enough plastic waste to fill 200,000 bathtubs or 19 Olympic swimming pools.
Scientists at the Energy and Environment Institute at the University of Hull argue once we learned that Covid-19 spread more through the air than via surfaces, the UK government should have started recycling tests to avoid unnecessary plastic pollution.
The government says it’s already made changes to make the tests more sustainable. But should we have been recycling our lateral flow test kits?
BBC Health reporter Laura Foster, who collected the waste from all her lateral flow tests, explains the situation in two minutes.
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