>> hello again. u.s. is deploying thousands of extra american troops to eastern europe. 2000 soldiers will head to poland and germany. the pentagon says it sends a signal to russia who has been massing troops on ukraine's border. >> we do not know if russia has made a final decision to further invade ukraine. but it clearly has that capability.

that apartment a defense will continue to support diplomatic efforts led by the white house and state department to press for resolution. we do not believe conflict is inevitable. united states has offered russia a path to de-escalate. but, we will take all prudent measures to ensure our own security and those of our allies. >> the united arab emirates defense ministry says it has intercepted three drones that entered its airspace early wednesday. an armed group has claimed responsibility for what it describes as an attack on vital facilities. in congo, attackers have killed 72 people. the armed group is suspected to be behind the raid. new zealand easing strict border controls imposed two years ago in response to coronavirus.

vaccinated new zealanders in australia will be allowed home, followed by citizens returning from the rest of the world. all realist -- all restrictions will end at october. coronavirus is killing americans at a far higher rate than other wealthy nations according to analysis by the new york times. the daily number of covid deaths in the u.s. is at its highest level in more than a year. data from johns hopkins university shows a 39% increase in the pesto code weeks -- past two weeks. those are the headlines on al jazeera. more news on our website. up next, inside story. ♪

>> saving lives during the pandemic, but tons of discarded surgical masks and medical waste are -- our environment. what can we do to prevent ecological disaster? this is inside story. ♪ >> hello and welcome. disposable masks, gloves, surgical gowns are just some of the medical items that have become part of our daily lives. but much of the protected personal equipment is made up of single use plastics that cannot be recycled and have to be disposed of carefully. the world health organization

says all of that waste is hazardous to our health and environment. protective gear, vaccine vials end up in landfills. the 2 -- there who is urging all countries to improve their waste management. >> one of the important findings is we found covid-19 has increased health care waste up to 10 times. if you consider that two in three health care facilities didn't have system sums to segregate -- systems to segregate before the pandemic, you can imagine how much burden this extra load has put on health care workers and surrounding communities, especially where waste is burned with the release of gas. >> there has been an enormous amount of medical waste since the pandemic started. the who report found most of the 87,000 tons of personal

protective equipment ordered between march 2000 20 and november last year ended up as waste. oceans asia estimates nearly 1.6 billion masks went into our oceans in 2020. the massachusetts institute of technology says the pandemic could create up to 7200 tons of medical waste every day. a study from the university of portsmouth found mass glitter increased by more than 9000% in the first seven months of the pandemic. ♪ let's bring in our guests. environmentalists and founder of twitter. in beirut, founder of -- environmental, an environment and industrial engineering firm. he develops the necessary technology to treat waste. in amsterdam, is saints medical

journalist covering the pandemic extensively. a warm welcome to all of you. let's start with you in new delhi, we have names just a few examples of the impact we are seeing medical waste have on the environment, but how much would you say covid-19 medical waste has had on waste management systems? >> you have to understand that covid based buyer metrical waste has short-term, medium and long-term effect on ecology. right now in case of india, there is almost a doubling in certain areas. we have seen a very inefficient management of environmental waste that has happened. we only have around 200 centers that are actually supposed to be treating environmental waste. imagine a country of 1.5 billion

people and only -- centers to treat the waste it is a huge problem. addressing the immediate pandemic, trying to protect ourselves but in the process of protecting ourselves immediately , we are creating an intergenerational ecological crisis. we have seen visuals from different parts of the country where there are mountains of garbage all around. >>, we know in india that garbage existed long before the pandemic. there are two issues we are looking at here. one is the biomedical waste the pandemic has created. is it being disposed of correctly? and then, the massive amounts of waste that have been created,

hazardous or not, how much of the covid-19 medical waste that is being produced would you say is recyclable? >> in principle if you follow good management practices, everything is recyclable. your main obstacle is that you're dealing with a huge influx, a huge volume and where you have hospitals that are in charge of some of this waste being produced and the other big chunk his regular residence. i know for a fact that masks and gloves -- when the pandemic started, everyone was thinking you can transmit it by touch. it survives on surfaces, so everyone was abusing disposable gloves. and you have the masks, all of

these are plastic. in principle, they are recyclable. we have developed technologies to recycle these. the problem is, can you properly channel them through recycling centers or not? >> that is what the conversation today is about. i am not sure if you were disagreeing there, i will come to you in a second, but before i do i want to bring -- in because it has been nearly two years since the pandemic began. it is a pandemic you have covered extensively. why do you think there who has brought out this report at this time? >> the issue has been raised before by several institutions, but it is not a coincidence i guess. we are, in many parts of the world, moving through an acute phase of all of these different waves.

and commit to the endemic state, in other words, we are getting used to the virus and we are no longer in the stage of ok, we have to sort out this crisis and we will take care of the garbage after that. so, we have to come up with sustainable and systematic solutions now. >> i could tell you wanted to say something earlier. >> the thing is that recycling is not a solution. what is recycling? disintegrating plastic and incineration. we have to look at our governments and institutions to think beyond pandemic. there was a time two years ago where there was an immediate urgency response. right now, we are prepared but the unfortunate part of this situation is we are still not yet prepared enough to oversee

them understand and manage our waste. we are manufacturing yet another public health crisis for future generations. that vision is not really clear for our governments. we just set our budget just yesterday and is there no mention of biomedical waste or regeneration. >> if i could pick up on a point you are making, either when we are talking about masks and perhaps disposable masks are the items we have used most, the who says in 2020 something like 3.4 billion disposable masks were thrown out each day, a lot of these masks are made of plastic. why are you saying they are not recyclable? >> we need to understand from a basic policy what is recycling. a lot of recycling is incineration which -- toxins.

[indiscernible] -- but my issue is that of a philosophical understanding of recycling, which is the last virtue in that sense. we have seen that, that we need to really understand it takes 450 years for a mask, a simple mask to decompose. if i take just a few seconds in an incinerator, but incinerator is not the best option. we need to have a holistic understanding of garbage. in india, 75% of our budget goes to to waste transportation, rather than waste management. this is -- grave understanding. >> let me put that. he does have a good

understanding of voice management. he develops the technology to treat waste. you agree that recycling masks is just not an option? are the more environmentally friendly ways to get rid of some of this waste? >> first, let's agree that incineration is not recycling. when you burn something, you are not recycling it. recycling, the entomology of the term is that you are putting back this material back into practice. there is a cycle you are following. when you burn it, you just lost it. no, we are not talking about incineration. i mean, you can just look up at me have been doing lately in beirut. we are in the midst of a severe financial crisis and a lot of

people now are resorting to stealing manhole covers. my organization commit since april, we are using facial masks, disposed of facial masks in a plastic matrix and we are extruding them and we are making plastic manhole covers. so, no, recycling -- if you are a technical person, someone who understands the behavior of plastic, plastic is a fantastic material that lasts for hundreds of years. all you need to do is put it to good use. definitely do not incinerate it. >> some of the other issues we have here are that the messaging from the who certainly has developed, it -- if not changed,

as they get more information. i want to ask you, how important are the guidelines -- for example, the who is saying that many facilities, many countries at the moment are classifying 100% of the waste, the covid-19 medical waste as hazardous, which has resulted in places like new delhi, the amount of waste quadrupling in delhi during the height of the second wave in may. so, how important is classification? and the facilities, that countries follow the who guidelines? >> they have been -- as very important throughout the pandemic. we have seen it also from medical guidelines. they have to be practical and pragmatic.

if you give everything the most interest classification, you end up with too much. if you put it too low, a lot of health workers and other workers are in danger. if i look at my own situation in the country here, we have a lot of self testing. everybody is just putting their positive test in the normal waste food no to cares. -- nobody cares. people picking up in the garbage are danger there. there has been no discussion about it. >> on the need for discussion, when i was reading through port, there were some who recommendations which actually surprised me, as a journalist trying to keep up with all the changing guidelines. the who actually recommends, for example, it doesn't recommend the use of gloves for administering vaccines.

this appears to be common practice. we are so used to seeing health care workers in full ppe. is there more reeducation that is necessary right now? >> a lot of countries have been slowly moving into more and more use of ppe. now is the time for what the who calls rational use. the gloves is one example. so, you don't need to wear gloves, according to the who, when administering vaccines. in many countries it has been done. that is something to address. they can abandon that practice. but, it is the same for other ppe. so, one of the things that is more better waste streams. -- use it's not a simple -- it

is swiss cheese again with the pandemic steps to solve the problem. >> not a simple solution. you work again in new delhi, around communities, living in proximity to poorly managed landfills, waste disposal sites. what kind of guidelines or recommendations would you like to see from the who at this point? >> as i said earlier, there are currently six months ago was producing 2:30 -- 230 tons a day. plus 600 tons of normal municipal waste. anyway we have been dealing with normal waste issues -- and then

we have covid. my recommendation is to really have a linkage between waste and public health. the who is not an order -- not an organization that is only supposed to respond to covid, but other. covid prevention is leading to more diseases in the future, in our waterways, we know that in 20 years covid waste plus plastic, the amount of garbage that is going to enter in our oceans is going to be three times more. it is the responsibility of government to look at not just a short-term response measure, reaction correction to covid, but also to understand long-term how do we actually take care of public health where we might be able to be safe from covid with the ppe kit, which is not even needed, how do we actually solve this crisis for 30 years or 40 years?

each of this garbage is going to remain in our ecology, in our food chain for 400 to 500 years. that is what i need and i expect the who to respond to a future plan, medium-term long-term plan for public health crisis management. >> what is the role of national governments? the who can force issue all the guidelines, but again, lebanon is in a political and economic crisis for years. >> this is not just for lebanon, i am a great believer in local action. when you have problems, the best way to solve them is to rely on the common intelligence of the community, pulling resources from the community and going to

the decision-makers and saying this is what we -- this is what we want, make it happen. always relying on outside factors is just a way to delay the solution or to look at it from a lazy perspective. all the problems we are seeing now are lessons for the future. the biggest lesson we should be learning is that we have to act locally and swiftly, and to also train a lot of our population. we have to make them aware that this is also bad for you, not just the environment, it is bad for our collective health. we need to deal with these materials and these kits in a more responsible way.

local governments have the responsibility of placing the right infrastructure in place. we heard now that even in amsterdam they were throwing away self testing kits with home garbage. this is unacceptable. >> doctor, what is the level of awareness in amsterdam, the netherlands and other european countries when it comes to disposing of medical waste but also the impact it is having on the environment? >> in countries like the netherlands, the basic medical waste that has been processed from municipal health stations, that is kind of ok. it is under control. but there's a huge environmental issue. i would argue in favor of some

sort of global cleaning day for the whole world population together to clean the mess we have now because people don't seem to care. a lot of people make fun of leaving their masks in the weirdest places. it is more of a game. >> that certainly sounds like we won't need a global cleanup day. one of the things i really want to cover on this is plastic production has more than doubled since the start of the pandemic. how concerning is that for both short term impacts and of course the longer term impact of nano plastic staying in the environment? >> indeed. you talk about plastic, we talk about micro plastic. and that is when we talk whether we incinerate it or make it into

a product or a plastic sheet. all of the plastic is going to remain in our environment. only downgrading to a lower quality plastic, in that sense. it is going to stay. it is going to be really important that it is disposed of properly. that is for the role of government is very important, to realize biomedical waste efforts or management into disposable facilities need to be improved. we only have 200 of them for 1.5 million people in almost one quarter of our country doesn't even have that facility. we really need to have an integrated plan where we look at covid, public health, and public ecology. plastic will remain in our lives and in our food chain if we do not respond right away. >> just a couple of minutes left, i would like to ask a quick question to all of you.

the who report says it is not an either/or choice, but how do we reach that balance? i will start with mr. abi scheck. >> this is not the first time humanity experiences a pandemic. we have been having them for 20 years. again, and again, and again, and it is always going to be the same thing unless you have the proper infrastructure in place for a pandemic and for nonpandemic related waste issues. you're going to be facing the same problems all over again. it is the role of local governments and communities to put pressure, put their act together and start putting down that infrastructure. >> i would agree. infrastructure is the most important thing to stop plastics

from ending up in the oceans, stop them from ending up there. that is the most important thing. and then, the report is really extensive in giving all these different other steps that need to be done like so much recycling, so much different new materials, more sustainable materials. a lot of work needs to be done, all of these fields. >> common sense civilization should have woken up. it has been two years and still we do not realize or understand and we are not giving proportionate response to this crisis. my only expectation and suggestion is that the pandemic is not over and we do not know how many more years it is going to continue. we need to create systems. this is a trigger warning for

all of us in our respective governments to invest in biomedical waste, base treatment, and in our public health. >> thank you very much for that. thank you to all of our guests. and thank you too for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website . for further discussion, go to our facebook age. facebook,/ashadeinsidestory. -- for me and the entire team, goodbye for now. ♪

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woman: i'm eager for people to experience art outside the walls of a museum. man: desert x is a show that's free. you can come at it however you want. woman: part of the experience is driving through these endless highway miles and these dirt roads. man: you know, the idea of having this continuous sequence of discoveries. woman: what you see is issues of black lives matter, sustainability. woman 2: environmental issues, immigration issues. man: but at the root of every artist's project is, ultimately, the desert. man 2: we're in an unbounded environment and the hope is that