Quarantine. Isolation. Atomization. Individualized. Single-use. If the global population adhered to a standard of one disposable face mask per day, the pandemic could result in global consumption and waste of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves, per month. COVID-19 friendly dining options are take-out and pre-packaged food. There are no public spaces with plates or utensils not meant to be completely thrown away. Living in the reality of coronavirus makes mountains out of the mundane and when shared air and surfaces can be the difference between life and death, things like plastic waste and sustainability understandably fall by the wayside. As the population begins to be vaccinated and a path out of the deepest parts of the woods becomes visible, we begin to see a glimpse of life post-pandemic. As face masks begin to be found washed up on beaches, we need to think critically about the acceleration of an epidemic of disposability. Despite mass recycling efforts, currently, less than 10% of plastic in the US is recycled each year. I am deeply passionate about using engineering to better the world and as an electrical engineering student, I was to use engineering to fix and update our current view of materials and disposability. The common understanding is that there is a world-altering pandemic every 100 years, but considering plastic takes 500 years to decompose, we will be dealing with the masks and takeaway wrappers from COVID-19, five pandemics from now. Our society deserves a better legacy than plastic and I know that we can better. Dozens of start-ups have been founded over the last year to sort and properly prep waste for recycling in new and innovative ways, while other engineering teams are finding methods of repurposing plastic into other needs commodities like building blocks for homes, yoga mats, and shag carpets. Seeing the extreme waste created in COVID-19, I decided that I wanted to be a part of the sustainability revolution. Realizing how much plastic waste I personally create from hair care products and packaging, a dear friend and I created Wonderfil, LLC. We fabricate and design electric dispensers for shampoo, conditioner, and much more. Our dispensers function similarly as water-bottle refill stations and allow users to refill bottles rather than continuously purchase plastic for toiletries. Our funded pilot program will debut our dispensers at the University of California, Santa Cruz’s campus this summer. Studying STEM and specifically, electrical engineering has allowed me to contribute to a small part of the solution. It is extremely empowering, especially as a woman in STEM, to think of an idea and be able to physically make it a reality. As we exit the COVID-19 period of our lives, I am permanently aware of how easy it is to ramp up the production of materials that take hundreds of years to dissolve with no proper contingency plan. I want to work as an engineer to eliminate the default system in our society for mindless production and consumption of plastic. Thank you!