Facemasks: the newest environmental threat

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing masks became a norm. Most people used cloth masks in the beginning of the pandemic because the disposable masks were out of stock and were extremely high demand. Eventually, as things started to open up and the situation became more “normal”, people wore masks outside, and disposable masks became very common. While masks are absolutely essential in the state of our world today, there is little realization of the impact that these masks have on the environment. When masks are disposed of, where do they really go?

It doesn’t seem like a big deal just yet, but masks are disposed of in the same way that other trash is. A study by OceansAsia reported that approximately 1.56 billion masks actually ended up in the sea in 2020. Along with this high number of masks being disposed into the ocean, there was an increase of 4,680 to 6,240 metric tons of marine plastic pollution. Experts predict that it will take around 450 years for these masks to break down, and all while negatively impacting marine life, resulting in widespread damage to the ocean ecosystems. These devastating numbers show how ignorant the global community is being towards the environment. This major problem may not affect humans directly right now, but marine life and the oceans are constantly being polluted and damaged.

This ignorance originates from the disposing methods in which masks are disposed of. Disposable face masks are categorized as plastic products, thus meaning that their effects are similar to those of plastic products. They contain microplastics and nanoplastics that are known to spread throughout the ocean ecosystems and damage them as they get smaller. Since there is no designated disposal method, people assume that it is fine to dispose of them as solid waste. Eventually, these billions of face masks, combined with the other millions of tons of plastic waste in the ocean, end up in big patches of plastic waste in the ocean. These plastics are known to release chemical and biological substances that harm the environment.

Some of the ongoing proposed solutions include mask-only trash cans or bins, guidelines or standardized implementation for mask disposal, advocating for reusable or cloth masks, and also potentially biodegradable masks.

Until then, make sure to lessen the use of disposable masks as much as possible, but if it is not possible, make sure to dispose of your masks correctly which will usually be through recycling.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210310122431.htm

https://oceansasia.org/covid-19-facemasks/