COVID-19 Waste Calculator

Your details

Choose how you prefer to enter your usage amounts.
Single-use surgical or procedural masks, not cloth masks. Each weighs about 4 g.
per week
N95, KN95, or FFP2 respirators. Heavier filter media brings each up to about 9 g.
per week
Pairs of nitrile or latex gloves. A pair of nitrile gloves weighs about 5 g.
per week
Lateral-flow rapid antigen tests. Plastic cassette, swab, and buffer tube total about 8 g.
per week
RT-PCR lab tests. Each generates approximately 37.3 g of plastic (tubes, pipette tips, PPE used during collection).
per week
Total doses you have received (not per week). Each dose generates about 7 g of syringe waste and a pro-rated share of a glass vial (~8 g).
total
Scale your weekly-equivalent usage up to this total period to see cumulative waste.
Total wasteLow
1.976kg

Combined plastic and medical waste over the chosen analysis period

Total items discarded416items
Mask waste1.04kg
Glove waste0.52kg
Test kit waste0.416kg
Vaccine waste0kg
Weekly equivalent38g/week
vs. global weekly average2.71%
Masks1.04
Gloves0.52
Test kits0.416
Vaccines0

416 items, 1.976 kg of waste over 1 year.

  • Your largest waste stream is masks at 1040 g over 1 year.
  • You generate about 38.0 g per week from consumable COVID items.
  • That is equivalent to roughly 395 single-use plastic carrier bags in total weight.
  • Switching to reusable cloth masks, or extending the reuse of N95 respirators where guidelines allow, is the single most effective step to cut this footprint.

Next stepYour weekly consumable rate is 271% of the estimated global per-person average. That is well above average - consider reducing single-use items where safe to do so.

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