GREat Talk Medway: Lockdown 2020: What went down the drain?

This FREE talk by the Department of Engineering and Science at the University of Greenwich at Medway is open to the public.

By late January 2020, it was clear that a new Coronavirus, COVID-19, was a threat to human health and was spreading. On 23rd March, the United Kingdom went into lock-down, by this time, panic buying had ensued across the country resulting in shelves across the country being depleted of food stocks such as flour and yeast, paper products and cleaning supplies such as bleach, hand washing and dish-washing soap and antiseptic cleansers such as dettol.

The Grocer reported on 27 June 2020 that in the 12 weeks to week ending 17 May, sales of cleansing products were up by 32% for bleach, 63.4% for surface cleaning products, nearly 75% for antiseptic cleaners and 127% for liquid soap. After all the government told us to wash our hands and to clean, clean, clean.

Paper product sales over the 6 week period between 8 March and 12 April increased by an average of nearly 60%, the volume of water discharge to sewage treatment works increased by over 20% in some areas as people continued to clean. This talk will explore the environmental impact of COVID-19.

Dr. Cecilia MacLeod is a Chartered Chemist and Programme Leader for the MSc in Water, Waste and Environmental Engineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Greenwich. She is a specialist in the assessment of risk and remediation of contaminants in the environment.

The GREat Talks at Medway will be delivered online via Zoom. Details will be emailed to those registered to attend.  To register click here.